Panic in Srinagar after a grenade found in hotel

Srinagar, Nov 25 (UNI) Panic gripped Badshah Chowk area of the city when a live hand grenade was found in a hotel which was damaged in a fidayeen attack in October this year.

Ten people, including two fidayeen of Al-Mansoorain, five Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a civilian were killed in the 26-hour-long encounter on October 4.

The CRPF and police personnel deployed in the busy Badshah Chowk cordoned off the entire area after a live grenade was found during the cleaning of the damaged hotel.

Sources said the grenade had remained unexploded during the encounter.

People present in the area were taken to safer places and the main road towards Maisuma, the headquarter of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was blocked.

However, due to general strike in the valley, the shops and other business establishments in the area were closed.

The bomb disposal squad was summoned which later defused the grenade in the hotel.

UNI BAS PK BS1509