Thaindian News

Srinagar, March 22 (IANS) One person was killed and two dozen were injured in a powerful car bomb explosion in a south Kashmir district Thursday. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast that shattered weeks of calm in the state.

A police officer told IANS the explosion occurred in a parked Maruti car on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Bijbehara town, nearly 50 km from here.

“We have recovered a mutilated body from the debris of the car which was blown to pieces. An election identity card recovered from the mutilated body identified the dead person as Muhammad Abbas Dar of Chursoo village in Anantnag district,” the police officer said.

He said 24 people were also injured of whom 15 with grievous injuries have been shifted to various hospitals in Srinagar.

The condition of one of the injured being treated at the Sher-e-Kashmir Medical Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) was critical, a doctor said.

Unconfirmed reports said two people were killed in the explosion. But the police officer said: “So far, we have reports of only one confirmed death in the explosion.”

The car was parked 20 yards away from the Bijbehara police station. Four nearby parked vehicles were also damaged.

Window panes of many residential houses and shops were shattered by the massive explosion which triggered high tension in the busy town as shopkeepers pulled down the shutters. People were seen running for cover after the blast.

Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway was halted for some time.