International Shia News Agency

8 people wounded in grenade attack,Kashmir

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association)- At least eight people, including a child and an officer of India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), have sustained injuries following a grenade attack in the Indian-administered Kashmir region.

Manoj Pandita, a police spokesman, said the incident took place near the abandoned Palladium cinema hall in Lal Chowk district of Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, situated 648 kilometers (403 miles) north of the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Saturday, when an assailant hurled a grenade at a bunker of paramilitary troopers.

Pandita added that all the injured have been transferred to a nearby hospital, where they are reported to be in stable condition.

He said a heavy contingent of police and paramilitary forces has been deployed in the area, and search operation is underway to arrest the perpetrators.

The development comes three days ahead of the second phase of assembly polls in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The first phase of the election was held on November 25, and Indian officials asserted that it had a 71-percent turnout.

Assembly elections in Kashmir will be held in five phases – on November 25, December 2, December 9, December 14 and December 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 23 before the final results are announced.

Pro-independence and opposition groups in Kashmir have already called for a boycott of the elections.

Islamabad and New Delhi have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947. The arch-rivals lay claim to the whole region but each of them only controls a section of it.

India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003, and a year later launched talks aimed at brokering a regional peace.

The process was, however, suspended after over 160 people lost their lives in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

 

 

Source:PressTV

www.shafaqna.com

 

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