Ahead of Republic Day & Rahul yatra, 7 injured in twin blasts in Jammu

Police suspect IEDs may have been used to carry out the blasts.

Sources said the first blast occurred at 11.15 am, in an SUV parked outside a repair shop. Some mechanics were repairing the vehicle when the blast occurred, injuring those working on it and others standing nearby.

About 15-20 minutes later, there was a second, more powerful blast, inside a vehicle that was parked in a junkyard a little distance away. Local shopkeepers said the vehicle had been there for the past few days.

The injured, who were rushed to the Government Medical College Hospital for treatment, were identified as Sohail Kumar of Ustad Mohalla, Arun Kumar of Qasim Nagar, Amit Kumar and Rajesh Kumar of Bahu Fort (all from Jammu city), Vishaw Partap of Kanachak, Vinod Kumar of R S Pura and Sushil Kumar of Prem Nagar in Doda.

A PTI report quoted a doctor at the hospital as saying: “We have received nine patients with one having abdominal injuries and two others with fractured legs. The condition of all of them is stable”.

Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Kathua district on Thursday evening via Punjab and is camping in Chadwal, about 70 km from here. After a day’s break on Saturday, the yatra is scheduled to resume from Hiranagar on Sunday and reach Jammu on January 23.

Condemning the blasts, Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha announced assistance of Rs 50,000 each to those injured. Urging “immediate and firm action”, he said “no efforts should be spared to bring the perpetrators to justice’’. He called for “urgent steps to identify and take action against those responsible’’. “Such dastardly acts highlight the desperation and cowardice of those responsible,’’ he said.

Security forces have cordoned off the area. A thorough sanitisation operation was carried out and forensic experts, bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs were also pressed into service.

Local shopkeepers said they had been asking the police and municipal authorities to initiate action against outsiders parking their vehicles in the area for days, but no action had been taken.

In an unrelated incident, some unidentified persons opened fire on the house of a former MLA, Chowdhary Mohammad Akram, in Lassana village of Poonch district’s Surankote tehsil on Friday night. Akram was not at home when the incident occurred.

Police said the shots fired were of a .12 bore gun, and it could have been a hunter as Akram’s house is near a forest area. Akram said his mother and son were at home at the time. A powerful explosion was also heard, and splinters hit the walls and roof, he said. The police have registered a case.