Grenade, Firing On Fateha Function
SRINAGAR- Unidentified gunmen attacked a memorial service In Bagh-e-Mahtab on the outskirts of the city this afternoon leaving two people dead and eighteen othersinjured. The attack was carried out during the fourth day ceremony of the Kashmir Salvation Movement (KSM) chief's brother. Abdul Ghani Bhat, who was shot dead by gunmen on Saturday.
The gunmen struck at around 2:30 pm at Bhat s residence when the KSM chief and former Hizb-ul-Mujahideen divisional commander Zafar Abdul Fatah, was addressing a large number of people gathered there for Fateha khwani, the CNS said
The attackers first hurled a grenade and then opened indiscriminate fire on the gathering, leaving two people, including Fatah and his two brothers Haji Ghulam Muhammad and Basheer Ahmad, injured.
Local residents and the police rushed the injured mourners to the SMHS and the Bones and Joints hospitals.
Two of the injured succumbed to their injuries at the SMHS hospital The deceased have been identified as Mirza Aslam Beig, son of Khizir Muhammad a resident of Bagh-e-Mahtab and Imtiyaz Mohi-ud-din son of Ghulam Mohi-ud-din of Lal
Nagar Meethan. The police cordoned off the area and conducted house-to-house searches after the attack but the gunmen had made good their escape before the search operations began
Among the injured where Special Police Officer Basheer Ahmad, Bilal Ahmad of Kralpora. Farooq Ahmad Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad Dar of Naupora. Sopore,Manzoor Ahmad Waar of Handwara, Shahnawaz Ahmad of Parravpora. Manzoor Ahmad of Dagarpora, Handwara, Aijaz Ahmad of Barzulla and Farooq Ahmad Parray and his son Basheer Ahmad of Parraypora.
Talking to the CNS. Kashmir's inspector general of police, Javed Makhdoomi, said that a gunman had lobbed a grenade and opened fire on a mourner's gathering in Shankarpora.
Police and the BSF had been deployed in the area, but the assailants opened fire immediately after hurling the grenade, and guards deployed with Zafar Abdul Fatah also fired back, but the attackers escaped during the exchange of fire.
Abdul Ghani Bhat, for whom the memorial service was being held, was the elder brother of Zafar Abdul Fatah.
Fatah, whose real name is Zafar Akbar Bhat is a former divisional commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen who was a key figure in the failed talks between Hizb and the Centre in 2000. He launched a separatist political party, Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement after giving up violence. He joined the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq as a general council member. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for today's attack or the killing of Bhat on Saturday.
The attack on the mourners came just minutes after several senior leaders’ of both factions of Hurriyat Conference had left the house of Bhat after expressing sympathy with the bereaved family, the sources said. Chairman of National Front Nayeem Ahmad Khan, chief of Anjuman-e-Shaire-Shiayan Syed Agha Hassan Jamaat-e- Islami leader Mohammad Ashraf Laway all belonging to hardline faction headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Peoples Political Front president Fazal Haq Qureshi and Ghulam Nabi Shah, of Awami Action Committee, constituents of the moderate faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had just left the house when the attack took place, the sources said.