Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 13: Eighteen persons including nine yatris of Shri Budha Amarnath Ji pilgrimage were injured, six of them seriously, when a suspected militant lobbed grenade at Bagh Deodi near Akhara Mandir in the heart of Poonch town tonight, where the yatris had just entered for night halt after reaching there from Jammu, at about 8 pm tonight.
“The grenade was directly targeted at Budha Amarnath Ji pilgrims at Bagh Deodi near Akhara temple in Poonch town, where 1246 pilgrims had reached around 8 pm tonight from Jammu and other places and had just few minutes before entered the premises for night halt before leaving for Budha Amarnath Ji shrine tomorrow morning,’’ police sources said.
The pilgrims had boarded off from buses at Government Degree College Ground in Poonch, about 50 meters short of Bagh Deodi, and trekked to the night shelter set up for them by the administration when a militant threw a grenade targeting the pilgrims and fled away.
The grenade exploded with a bang at around 8 pm causing injuries to 18 people including nine pilgrims, who were entering Bagh Deodi, an ASI and rest local people.
SSP Poonch Jatinder Singh Johar, Deputy Commissioner Poonch, Haroon Malik, DySP Sagra Singh Slathia, DySP Mohan Lal and SHO Inspector Jatinder Raina and other officials from civil and police administration reached the spot immediately and started rescue operation. Police and para-military personnel joined by the locals shifted the injured to District Hospital, Poonch from where six injured were referred to Rajouri by road and then were in the process of being further referred to Jammu for specialized treatment in the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu in view of their serious condition when the reports last came in.
Condition of a woman, whose identity hasn’t been established so far but she hailed from Jammu, was stated to be critical.
Police and para-military personnel carried out searches in the area but the militant responsible for the grenade attack remained untraced. The grenade had fallen on the stairs of Bagh Deodi. A TATA Sumo, which was returning towards Bus Stand was damaged in the blast.
Sources said TATA Sumo contained impact of the grenade, which first hit the vehicle before landing at Bagh Deodi.
The Budha Amarnath Ji yatra, which had started on August 9, was due to culminate on August 18 along with Shri Amarnath Ji yatra coinciding with the pious occasion of Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan.
Sources said the Yatra would proceed as per schedule to Shri Budha Amarnath Ji shrine tomorrow morning from Bagh Deodi, which serves as base camp and night halting point for the pilgrims. The yatra from Jammu and other places will also proceed to Poonch tomorrow.
Sources said a total of 1246 pilgrims had today reached Poonch base camp for Shri Budha Amarnath Ji yatra including 421 from Jammu and 825 from other places including enroute Jammu-Poonch.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, immediately after getting a report of the blast, got in touch with the authorities and directed for immediate shifting of seriously injured yatris to Jammu and best medicare to other injured in Poonch hospital.
Denouncing the blast, Dr Singh described it as handiwork of elements, who were hell bent to disturb peace in the State. He directs security forces and police to leave no stone unturned to nab the militant involved in the blast.
The Deputy Chief Minister called upon the administration to provide all facilities to the pilgrims.
Former Minister and Congress leader Raman Bhalla has also strongly condemned the blast targeting pilgrims and called for stern action against the militants.
BJP MLC Vibodh Gupta too condemned the blast and asked the administration to take stern action against the militants, who were trying to vitiate atmosphere of the State by disturbing peace in the region. He stressed for immediate arrest of the militant.
The injured admitted in the District Hospitals of Poonch and Rajouri have been identified as Tarum Awant wife of Manti Ram, Sandeep Singh son of Rami Pal, both residents of Madhya Pradesh, Vinod Kumar son of Karan Singh, Archana Devi wife of Mohan Lal and Rani Geeta wife of Ashok Kumar, all residents of Uttar Pradesh, Ashok Kumar son of Chuni Lal R/o Jammu, ASI Mohammad Shakeel, Fazal Ali son of Khalid Rashid, Varsha Devi wife of Rajnish Kumar, Giri Raj son of Lekh Raj, Vipan Kumar son of Krishan Lal, Harvinder Singh son of Hari Dayal, Rohit Kumar son of Chuni Lal and Koushal Devi wife of Under Pal, all residents of Poonch.
Late tonight, some of the people held protest demonstration against the blast and shouted slogans demanding action against the accused responsible for the grenade attack. The Deputy Commissioner, Poonch convened a meeting with prominent members of all communities at midnight tonight for maintenance of peace.
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