Powerful IED blast near CRPF camp in Srinagar, 15 injured

Srinagar, Nov 14 (UNI) As India and Pakistan began Foreign Secretary talks, militants today made an abortive bid to blow up a battalion headquarter of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

As many as 15 people, including seven security personnel, were injured when the militants detonated an IED, reportedly fitted in a parked car, just outside the headquarters of the CRPF at the high-security Karan Nagar area at 1600 hours, official sources said.

A CRPF spokesman told UNI that militants first lobbed a hand grenade towards the main entrance of the camp. However, when the security force came out to search the area after some time, there was a loud blast, he said.

''We could not say whether the IED was kept in a parked car or scooter,'' he said, adding two CRPF personnel were wounded in the blast.

The spokesman said the main aim of the militants seemed to lure out the security forces personnel outside and then trigger the blast for causing major damage.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) S M Sahai told reporters near the site of the blast that five state police, two CRPF personnel and eight civilians were injured in the blast.

The injured have been admitted to different hospitals.

He said security forces and police have launched operation to nab the militants responsible for the causing the blast.

A UNI correspondent who visit the area saw damaged window panes of nearby houses.

The blast was so powerful that its sound was heard in the entire down town and civil line areas.

The CRPF also conducted search operation in the nearby houses but the militants had managed to escape, sources said.

The area has been declared high security as a number of security force camps and the offices of top CRPF officials besides the headquarters of the Inspector General of Police and other senior police officials are located there.

UNI BAS Vd PM1734