Srinagar, Aug 13: One person was killed and forty others including seven securitymen injured as militants today set off three powerful blasts and targetted the residence of a ruling PDP MLA in the Kashmir Valley ahead of Independence Day, official sources said.
A 30-year-old youth Mushtaq Ahmad Wani was killed and six pedestrians injured when militants exploded a grenade at Koimoh village in Kulgam area of Anantnag district in south Kashmir this afternoon, the sources said.

They said the grenade was lobbed by militants on a security patrol but it missed the intended target and exploded on the road at 12:15 pm injuring seven persons. Wani succumbed to his wounds on the way to hospital. In another major blast, militants detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted on a bicycle outside a restaurant at crowded Bandipora Chowk in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, injuring 31 persons including five BSF jawans and two local policemen, official sources said.

Four women and three labourers from Bihar were also among the injured in the explosion which took place at around 12:35 pm when a large number of people were present in the restaurant, they said.

The sources said the blast damaged the restaurant and a nearby shop, besides shattering some windowpanes of a nearby building housing the branch office of state bank of india and some vehicles.
Police and paramilitary forces immediately cordoned off the entire area and removed the injured to hospital. Condition of eight of the injured persons including two BSF personnel and a policeman was stated to be serious and they were referred to Srinagar for specialised treatment, the sources said.

Bureau Report