Teenager killed in grenade attack at Jammu bus stand; suspect from Hizbul held

Jammu: A teenager was killed and 27 others were injured after a suspected terrorist on Thursday carried out a grenade attack at a bus stand area in the heart of the city. DGP Dilbagh Singh informed that the person who threw the grenade at the Jammu bus stand earlier today has been arrested. Specifying details of today's explosion, J&K Police's  Inspector General Manish K Sinha's confirmed it was a terror attack executed by the Hizbul Mujahideen. "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 Javed Bhatt, he has confessed to the crime." Sinha said the attacker had arrived in Jammu this morning from Kulgam.  "He was tasked to throw this grenade by District Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kulgam, Farooq Ahmed Bhatt alias Omar."  The IG said the bus stand was chosen to conduct the blast to ensure there's "maximum impact". Sinha earlier said the preliminary investigation suggested that someone lobbed the grenade in the bus stand area around noon, causing the explosion.  A parked bus of the state road transport corporation (SRTC) suffered extensive damage in the blast which caused panic among the people. Mohammad Sharik, 17, a resident of Hardiwar in Uttarakhand, who was among 33 people brought to the hospital, succumbed to splinter injuries in the chest, officials were quoted by news agency PTI. The condition of four more injured persons was "critical" and two of them were operated upon by the doctors to save their lives, they said.

#Jammu: Man accused of grenade explosion at Jammu bus-stand has been arrested by police. pic.twitter.com/swvpyfUkC5

— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2019

The injured included 11 residents of Kashmir, two from Bihar and one each from Chattisgarh and Haryana, the officials said. J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik condemned the grenade attack and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 20,000 each to those injured in the incident. MoS Defence Subhash Bhamre had earlier said that a local investigation was initiated into the incident. The government has given complete liberty to the forces to take all necessary steps. This is the third grenade attack by terrorists in Jammu bus stand since May last year, viewed by security agencies as an attempt to disturb communal harmony and peace in the city.