48 injured in Kashmir blasts

By Shujaat Bukhari

JAMMU, JAN. 9. Militants today made an abortive bid to blow up the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) in Srinagar by detonating a bomb outside the building in which 28 people were injured, some of them seriously, while in Anantnag, 20 people were injured when a grenade thrown by militants exploded and a middle-rung Hurriyat leader escaped a bid on his life.

Sources said a powerful, remote-controlled bomb went off outside the highly guarded CTO at around 10 a.m. when a large number of people were waiting in a queue to pay their telephone bills. At least 28 people, mostly civilians, who were injured in the blast, were rushed to hospital where the condition of four of them was stated to be critical. Panic gripped the entire area, which was later sealed.

Reports said that at Janglat Mandi in Anantnag, militants hurled a grenade towards the security forces, which missed the target and exploded among the civilians causing injuries to 20 people.

Hurriyat leader escapes

A group of militants barged into the residence of a middle-rung Hurriyat leader, Shahidul Islam, at Dalgate and opened fire, but he had a narrow escape. When the inmates raised an alarm, the militants fled. Later, a militant outfit, Mujahideen-e-Haq, claimed responsibility for the attack saying he was a surrendered militant.

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