Ex-MLA among 7 killed, 40 injured in Kashmir

Srinagar, July 8 (UNI) A former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of National Conference (NC) Ghulam Nabi Dar was among five people killed and 40 others, including a former minister, injured in a grenade blast today at Kulgam town, two days after it was declared a separate district.

Elsewhere in the state a soldier and a militant were killed while ultras made an abortive bid on the life of a close relative of Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig.

Official sources said unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade on an NC procession near a shrine at Kulgam at 1135 hours.

The grenade exploded on the road causing injuries to more than 40 people.

The injured included former minister Sakeena Itoo, MLC and other senior leaders of the NC, the main opposition party in the state.

The injured were rushed to hospital where one was declared brought dead. The condition of two others was critical, sources said.

Sources in the SMHS hospital said former NC MLA from Kulgam, Ghulam Nabi Dar, also succumbed to his injuries. The four other persons who also died in the blast were identified as Mohammad Yousuf Wani, Ali Mohammad Zargar, Azad Ahmad Wani and Mohammad Yousuf Shah.

The NC had arranged the rally to celebrate the district status of Kulgam.

Kulgam is one of the new eighth districts created in the Jammu and Kashmir recently by the government.

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