7 Amarnath pilgrims injured in grenade attack

SRINAGAR: At least ten people, including seven pilgrims, were injured when militants hurled a grenade at a bus about to leave for the Baltal base camp to the Amarnath cave shrine on Monday, official sources said.

The militants threw the explosive at the crowded bus at Batmaloo at around 3PM, minutes before its departure for the base camp, 100 km from here, injuring seven devotees and three pedestrians, the sources said.

They said 25 pilgrims had made bookings in the bus and were boarding the vehicle when the militants attacked.

The injured were immediately rushed to hospital, the sources said adding the pilgrims were identified as Bihari, Rohit, Bahudi, Jeevan Prasad, Ramanand, Udaiya (all from UP) and Surjeet Kaur from Jalandhar (Punjab).

The locals injured in the blast were identified as Mohd Latief Gujri, Ghulam Ahmad Magray and Mohd Afzal, they said.

Police, assisted by security forces, immediately sealed the entire area and launched a hunt to nab the militants involved in the attack.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the incident.