Jammu Grenade Blast in 10 Points: 2 Dead, Suspect From HuM Held

A 10-point breakdown of the grenade attack at a bus station in Jammu, which left two dead and 32 injured.

A grenade attack struck a crowded bus station in Jammu on Thursday, 7 March, leaving two dead and as many as 32 injured.

Here is a 10-point breakdown of the incident:

• One more person succumbed to his injuries on Friday, 8 March, taking the death toll to two. Mohammad Sharik, 17, from Haridwar in Uttarakhand, had succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.
  
• The attack left 32 others injured. They were shifted to the nearby Government Medical College (GMC) hospital, where they were treated for splinter and shrapnel injuries. Three of the injured are said to be in critical condition.
  
• The suspect behind the attack was arrested within five hours of the blast. Identified as Yasir Javed Bhatt, a resident of Khanpura area in Kashmir, the suspect was ordered to attack the station by District Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kulgam, Farooq Ahmed Bhatt, Jammu IG MK Sinha said at a press conference.

• Police said the grenade was lobbed from outside the bus station. Sinha said the grenade had probably rolled under a parked bus before it went off, at around 11:30 am, possibly containing most of the shrapnel from the grenade.
  
• A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has been rushed to the site of the grenade attack and an investigation has been launched.
  
• J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik, while condemning the attack, has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 20,000 each to those injured in the incident.
  
• Ishan Sharma, one of the eyewitnesses, told The Quint that the explosion had left him dazed momentarily. “Right after the explosion, I saw several people on the ground. Initially, no one could understand what to do… but then, the locals rallied and shifted the injured to the nearby hospital. Soon after, police reinforcements came and took over,” he said.
  
• Some witnesses said they initially thought the sound had been caused by a tyre burst. "At first, we thought it was a tyre burst. But when we approached the site, we saw people lying injured and in critical condition," said Sunil Kumar (26).
  
• The attack, police said, was intended to disturb the state’s internal peace. Security forces in the state were already on high alert in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack last month, which had killed 40 CRPF personnel.
  
• This is the third grenade attack by terrorists in the bus stand area of the city since May last year.

(With inputs from PTI, IANS and ANI)