2 grenade blasts in J&K on I-Day, cop injured in Srinagar PCR attack | India News

SRINAGAR: Terrorists breached twice the security firewall for Independence Day in Kashmir, setting off two grenade explosions—one at Srinagar’s police control room (PCR) near the locality of Batamaloo and another at It’s broken in Budgam district. This was the first attack on the PCR in Srinagar on I-Day in recent years, and the second this year.
A policeman suffered minor wounds in the evening attack on the PCR located near the high-security Civil Secretariat and sandwiched between the civilian quarters of Batamaloo, about 2.5km from the city’s landmark of Lal Chowk, and Magarmal Bagh towards the rear.
An important security installation of J&K police, the PCR complex has half-a-dozen buildings, with offices of four armoured police SPs, barracks for cops and a hospital. Every district has a PCR that functions as a hub of logistics and deployment.

Sources said terrorists hurled a grenade over the building’s backyard fence during the change of guards for the night-shift. A grenade was thrown from the backside earlier on January 17 this year too, taking advantage of reduced security in the evening. No damage or injury was reported then.
Police said the area has been cordoned off. More details are awaited.
Earlier in the day, a civilian was wounded in a grenade explosion in the Gopalpora area of Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. “Civilian Karan Kumar Singh was wounded and shifted to a Srinagar hospital for treatment, where his condition is stated to be stable,” an officer said.
Terrorists had stepped up their offensive ahead of I-Day, while security forces were on maximum alert to foil any subversive activity. J&K police constable Sarfaraz Ahmad died in hospital on Monday from wounds suffered during an attack on a police patrol the day before in Nowhatta of downtown Srinagar.
Police said the Nowhatta shootout helped avert a major tragedy as the terrorists were planning something more sinister. On Sunday evening, two terrorists Moomin Gulzar of Srinagar and Basit Ahmad of Kulgam of The Resistance Force, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, arrived near the Gani Memorial Stadium on a two-wheeler when a police patrol found their movement suspicious and stopped them.
The duo opened fire at the police team triggering an encounter in which constable Ahmad—from Ramban district’s Batote area—was critically wounded. One of the terrorists was also wounded in the gunfight, but both managed to escape taking advantage of the congested locality and darkness. Cops seized their scooter and an AK-74 rifle and two grenades.
Sources said the terrorists, before carrying out the attack, contacted their handlers in Pakistan through social media and informed them about the impending strike. The TRF released a statement prematurely, thinking that the attack was executed already.