Six sadhus injured in Kashmir blast

Srinagar, July 21 (UNI) At least six sadhus were injured in a grenade blast at Pahalgam, the base camp of holy Amarnath cave shrine this afternoon.

Official sources told UNI that unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade when a group of sadhus were resting in the compound of a Gurdawara near police station Pahalgam, about 100 kms from here in south Kashmir.

They said six sadhus received splinter wounds in the blast.

The injured were admitted to hospital.

The sadhus were scheduled to leave for the holy shrine tomorrow morning.

The area has been cordoned off and a massive search operation has been launched to nab the militants responsible for the blast.

This was the first attack by militants on Amarnath pilgrims on the traditional Pahalgam route.

The blast occurred after a similar attack at Baltal on Tuesday, in which one local was killed and nineteen others, including a yatri from Uttar Pradesh were injured.

Yesterday a series of grenade blasts rocked the city and left about one dozen persons wounded when the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was in session.

UNI