Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 17: In another attack on liquor shops, which came exactly 48 hours after three wine shops were targeted on banks of Dal lake in Srinagar, a militant lobbed grenade on Munish Wine Shop at Narwal under the jurisdiction of Trikuta Nagar police station this evening killing one person and wounding six others.
This was after a very long period that a militant strike had been reported in Jammu district especially Jammu City, which had been declared free of militancy by the police administration.
On Thursday evening, militants of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit had opened firing on three liquor shops on the banks of Dal lake in Srinagar inside a Government run hotel, Heemal, killing an employee and injuring four others.
The Hizbul Mujahideen had later claimed responsibility for the attack.
IGP Jammu Dilbagh Singh after a visit to the site of blast said police was investigating the case but said it would be premature to give reasons for the blast.
“Nothing can be ruled out at this stage. It can be part of the attack on liquor shops or it can be just a co-incidence”, he said, adding that though there was no presence of militants in Jammu district, the City being close to the borders was vulnerable to anti-national elements.
“It can be a pre-planned attack or a co-incidence’”, Mr Singh said.
Official sources told the Excelsior that lone militant threw grenade on Munish Wine Shop, owned by Munish Gupta son of liquor baron and businessman Bansi Lal Gupta, who also runs Early Times newspaper, at 6.55 pm when a number of customers were waiting outside the shop to purchase wine, at Narwal.
The grenade exploded and its splinters hit the customers and wine shop employees, killing one of them and injuring six others besides creating panic in the area. A number of shopkeepers and their employees deserted the area for sometime while others came to rescue of the victims.
The grenade thrower managed to escape from the spot.
Police parties including IGP Jammu Dilbagh Singh, DIG Jammu JP Singh, SSP Jammu Prabhat Singh, SP City (South) Rajeshwar Singh and SDPO East SS Samyal rushed to the spot after getting a report of the blast and ordered that all areas leading to Jammu-Srinagar highway and Doda, Kishtwar roads be sealed and suspects frisked. Searches were also intensified in the areas along Narwal.
However, no arrests have been made so far.
In the absence of eye-witness account, police couldn’t say as to whether the militant was on a two wheeler or any other vehicle or walking on foot. In any case, he escaped from the spot without being spotted by anyone after throwing the grenade.
Kuldeep Raj, 22, son of Rakhu Ram, a resident of Channi Narwal died on spot after being hit by splinters of the grenade in his abdomen. Six other persons were injured in the blast. They have been identified as Pradeep Sharma, 22, son of Mulkh Raj Sharma R/o Gordhi, Ramnagar, Amar Nath, 49, son of Thoru Ram R/o Bahu Fort, Rakesh Singh, 24, son of Yashpal Singh R/o Near Police Station, Ramnagar, Rajinder Singh, 50, son of Udham Singh R/o Upper Gadigarh and Ramu, 30, son of Rati Ram R/o Narwal and Sunil Sharma, 35, son of Madan Lal Sharma R/o Bishnah.
All of them were responding to the treatment, doctors said, adding that Ramu and Rajinder Singh have been admitted for the treatment while others were kept under observation.
Police said the Forensic experts have seized splinters of the grenade from the spot, which had hit the parked two-wheelers and the wine shop. Some of the liquor bottles were damaged with splinters.
The splinters would be examined to ascertain exact nature of the explosive device used in the blast but, sources said, it appeared to be a sophisticated Chinese grenade.
The grenade appeared to have been thrown from a distance, which was evident from the fact that the people around the shops couldn’t realize the militant.
Police said searches were being conducted at various places and vehicles on some major roads were being searches to get the militant but to no avail so far. The grenade attack targeting a liquor shop came just 48 years after the Hizbul Mujahideen militants had opened firing at three liquor shops on the banks of Dal lake.
Police believed that same module of the Hizbul Mujahideen might have targeted the wine shop in Jammu as well though the blast was being probed from various angles.
It was after a long time that a grenade attack took place in Jammu as no militancy related incident had been reported here for past few years. Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur districts had been declared free of militancy by the police authorities to strengthen the Government claim for revocation of Armed Force Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Though police claimed that it could be an isolated incident not signaling revival of militancy in Jammu, Intelligence inputs revealed that a number of militants have infiltrated in the Kashmir Valley from the Line of Control (LoC) this summer and some of them could be diverted to other places for carrying out attacks as there had been no infiltration in Jammu region.
Moreover, they said, the militants might be trying to activate sleeper cells to carry out targeted attacks. Prior to attacks on wine shops, the militants had killed three Panchayat members in the Kashmir Valley leading to fear psychosis among Sarpanchs and Panchs.
Meanwhile, Jammu Wine Traders Association president JS Jasrotia and Ajay Goel, general secretary have condemned the grenade attack on liquor shop and sought protection for the liquor shopkeepers.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
