SRINAGAR, July 27: Four people died and at least five were wounded on Saturday when unidentified attackers threw a grenade at a crowded market in occupied Kashmir.
The attack coincided with the arrival of US Secretary of State Colin Powell in New Delhi.
“Militants hurled a grenade at a security patrol at busy Budgam town. The grenade missed the target and exploded near shops, killing two civilians on the spot,” a police official said.
Two of the wounded died on the way to a hospital, police said. “The dead include a father and son.”
Budgam town lies 15km west of Srinagar.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack came just hours before Powell landed in New Delhi to start a weekend visit to Pakistan and India.
One Indian soldier was hurt when Mujahideen fired a grenade at an army camp near Tatoo Ground in Srinagar, police said.
Three more people were killed in separate shootouts since Friday evening, police said.
HUNGER STRIKE: More than twenty activists of the All party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) went on a 20-hour hunger strike to protest human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
Javid Ahmad Mir, acting chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), along with more twenty activists went on a hunger strike in Srinagar on Saturday, witnesses said.
“By today’s hunger strike Hurriyat wants to draw world attention towards the deteriorating human rights situation in (held) Kashmir,” said a statement from Hurriyat.—Reuters
