Nine killed, 50 wounded across Kashmir

Srinagar, Nov 10 (UNI) At least nine people, including three teenaged girls, were killed while a top Muslim cleric was among 50 others wounded even as a senior political leader escaped an attempt on his life across the Kashmir valley overnight, official sources said today.

They said at least six people, including four children, were killed while a top Muslim cleric was among 40 others wounded, some of them critically, in a grenade attack on a religious congregation near a mosque in south Kashmir's Pulwama district today.

However, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said about 7-8 people were killed and more than 35 others wounded in the explosion while police put the figure of the dead at five and the injured at 37 and suspected the involvement of pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen in the attack.

The sources said at least six people were killed and about 40 others wounded, mostly children, when unidentified men hurled a hand grenade at a religious congregation near the Jamia Masjid at Tahab in Pulwama district, about 35 km from here, just before the Friday prayers this afternoon.

The sources said thousands of people had gathered at the congregation. The situation was tense in the area, but under control, they added.

Police said Moulvi Abdul Rashid Dawoodi, a top Muslim cleric of south Kashmir, was among those wounded in the grenade attack.

Police said suspected Hizb militants hurled a grenade towards the Jamia Masjid at Tahab at around 1330 hrs when a large number of people along with Moulvi Dawoodi were entering the mosque to offer the Friday prayers.

The injured were rushed to various hospitals, where the condition of many of them, including Moulvi Dawoodi, was stated to be critical, police added. Some of the injured have been rushed to Srinagar hospitals in serious condition.

The entire area has been cordoned off to nab the attackers. No militant outfit has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Senior civil and police officials have rushed to the area to take stock of the situation.

Five of the dead have been identified as ten-year-old Bismah Bashir, Saleema Akhter (13), Sheeraza Akhter (17), 13-year-old Umar Maqbool Ganie and Nissar Ahmed Ganie (22), all residents of Tahab.

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