Two dead, around 30 Injured in grenade blast at Jammu bus stand; Hizbul behind the attack

Jammu, Mar 7: A grenade blast at Jammu bus stand today left one person dead and around 30 people injured.The police said that terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen was behind the attack.The blast took place around noon. The grenade reportedly went off under a bus, said reports. Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singh said that the person who hurled the grenade has been arrested.

A civilian, injured in Thursday's Jammu grenade attack, succumbed to injuries the next day, taking up the death toll to two. At least 28-29 are injured and undergoing treatment.

"Teams were constituted to work on leads, CCTV camera footage examined, based on oral testimony of witnesses we were able to identify a suspect. He was detained, his name is Yasir Bhatt, he has confessed to the crime,"IGP Jammu, Manish K Sinha, told the media.

"Yasir Bhatt was tasked to throw this grenade by District Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kulgam, Farooq Ahmed Bhatt alias Omar," Sinha added.

The injured were rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital, and some are being operated for shrapnel injuries, said reports. The area has been cordoned off by the local police. This is said to be third grenade blast in the area in the past 10 months. Among the injured were bus drivers, conductors and some passersby.

"The person who threw the grenade at the Jammu bus stand earlier today, has been arrested," news agency ANI quoted Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singh as saying.

The state has been on a high state of alert after the February 14 Pulwama attack and February 26 Balakot airstrike at JeM camp.

"It was a grenade explosion, it has caused injuries to approximately 18 people, all shifted to hospital," MK Sinha, IGP Jammu, told reporters earlier. It seems that the grenade was lobbed from the outside, he further said.

Reports quoted an eyewitness as syaing that it was a 'big blast'. The locals helped the injured and escorted them to the ambulances, the eyewitness further told a TV channel.

The blast took place at SRTC bus stand in Jammu around noon. One injured person is said to be critically injured, said reports.

Earlier today, a gunbattle broke out between the security forces and the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Handwara. As per latest reports, one terrorist has been killed so far, said reports.

There have been at least five major encounters between the forces and the terrorists in Kashmir since India carried out a pre-emptive stike on JeM base in Pakistan's Balakot of February 26. Two terrorists were killed in an encounter with terrorists in Babgund area of J&K's Handwara on March 3.

Terrorists on Saturday (March 2) evening launched an attack on a camp of the 44 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) in Nagbal in Shopian district. Police were alerted immediately, who retaliated and fired back. The fresh encounters came amid heightened Indo-Pak tensions in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack, the subsequent anti-terror operation by India and Pakistan Air Force's attempt to target Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir.