Minister, MLA survive grenade attack, 2 dead, 19 hurt

Exactly a week after the January 2 fidayeen attack on a railway station, militants today struck inside a mosque at Mohalla Jatkadian near Lakhdata Bazar. Two namazis, both Civil Secretariat employees, were killed and 19 others, including two police head constables, offering Friday prayers, were injured in the grenade attack.

At the time of the blast, 500-odd worshippers, including Minister of State for Power Javed Mustafa Mir and MLA Moulvi Abdul Rashid, were inside the single-storey mosque. When the militants lobbed the grenade, it first hit the overhead electric wires and then fell on the roof and exploded. Rashid and Mir were unhurt as they were in the main hall.

Most victims are Civil Secretariat employees from Srinagar. The dead are Abdul Rashid Khan, an employee of Law Department in Civil Secretariat and Mohammad Shafi, an employee of Sheep Husbandry Department. The injured were admitted to Government Medical College Hospital, where the condition of three was stated to be critical.

Eyewitnesses say after triggering the blast, the militants also fired 10 to 12 shots near the entrance. Rashid8217;s security officers retaliated, forcing the militants to flee.

This is the first attack on a mosque in the city of temples, probably aimed at derailing the Indo-Pak peace initiatives.