Mysterious explosion in tourist cab in south Kashmir was a militant grenade attack
Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR: The mysterious explosion in a tourist cab which killed four Mumbai women in July this year was actually a grenade attack and not a cylinder blast as the police had then emphatically claimed.
The two militants who have been killed in today’s gunfight at Bubgam village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district had “attacked the tourist cab and killed four tourists from Maharashtra state and wounded four others”, DIG, south, Vijay Kumar was quoted as saying by a police statement.
On July 28 an explosion took place inside a tourist cab at Bijbehara, 45 kms from capital Srinagar, resulting in the death of Nirmala Rathod, Bharati Purohit, Induben Parmar and Nisha Jethwa from Maharashtra state.
Although the media had reported that it was a grenade attack, but police played down the incident by immediately issuing a statement claiming that the women died of a gas cylinder blast inside their vehicle.
Many even blamed the media of “disturbing” peace in the region, which witnessed a booming tourist season this year after a decline in more than two-decades of violence.
After the gunfight today in Pulwama, DIG Kumar said: “The two militants Imtiyaz Ahmed Teli @ Fahadullah Kashmiri and Mohammad Aamir Bhat @ Khalid @ Khursheed were involved in the grenade attack in Bijbehara in which four tourist ladies were killed in July this year.”
Although the police until now had maintained that the mishap was a cylinder explosion, doctors had kept saying that none of the victims had burn injuries, which would be expected in case of a cylinder explosion.
Observers say the police could have deliberately misled people to save causing scare among tourists who were in the valley.
More than a million tourists visited the valley this year, as fighting between security forces and militants which killed tens of thousands since 1989 is declining.
The explosion in July happened when Defence Minister A.K. Antony was in the valley to review the overall security situation and to also discuss removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from parts of the state.
Recently Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said progress made on partial removal of the law was scuttled by the Army.
“I had gathered support from certain quarters in New Delhi for AFSPA revocation from some pockets of state, but Army scuttled the move,” Abdullah said.
