Jammu, Nov 17: Militants Saturday evening made their presence felt in the state’s winter capital by hurling a grenade towards a liquor shop in Narwal area that left one person dead and four others wounded.
The attack came days after a shootout outside two liquor shops in a government-run hotel in Srinagar leaving one person dead.
Eyewitnesses said that today’s blast in Jammu took place at around 6.55 pm when a long queue of customers was waiting outside Muneesh liquor shop in Narwal area, on the outskirts of the city.
“Though initially it was presumed to be an LPG cylinder blast but panic gripped the area and people started running for shelter as it was learnt to be a grenade attack”, an eyewitness said.
Five persons, most of them customers at the liquor shop, were wounded in the attack. However, one of them later succumbed to his wounds in the hospital.
The deceased was identified as Kuldeep Kumar son of Rakhi of Akhnoor. The injured were identified as Amarnath son of Daru Ram of Bahu Fort, Jammu, Rajinder Singh of Garigarh, Rakesh Singh son of Yashpaul Singh and Pardeep son of Mulkh Raj both residents of Ramnagar, Udhampur.
Senior police officers rushed to the spot to access the situation. The entire area was cordoned and police launched a manhunt to nab the suspects.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that it was a grenade attack. But it was too early to say who is involved in the attack”, Inspector General of Police Dilbhag Singh said adding that involvement of militants can not be ruled out as Jammu, being close to Indo-Pak border, has always potential threat.
Asked about the possibility of the liquor shop being under attack the IGP said, “It might be incidentally that the attack took place outside the liquor shop. However, at the same time we will be investigating the incident through all possible angles”.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST