Srinagar police arrested the two culprits | Image: Twitter/ Srinagar Police
Two people were arrested by Srinagar police in connection with the grenade attack in Srinagar’s Amira Kadal marketplace area on Sunday that killed two and injured 38 others.
Srinagar police chief Rakesh Balwal had formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the attack soon after the incident. Both the culprits were arrested within 48 hours of the attack.
A police statement said, “SIT was able to identify two accused who came on a two-wheeler without number-plate to commit this crime and fled on the same vehicle after committing the terrorist act.”
Police said that the culprits were identified after thoroughly scanning CCTV footage.
They said, “During the intense analysis of the CCTV trail in Srinagar city, the route adopted by both accused was located back to one neighbourhood in Khanyar area.”
The two accused have been identified as Mohammed Bariq and Fazli Nabi, residents of Khanyar in Srinagar.
In the footage of the incident, the attackers could be seen hurling the grenade near a parked armored police truck. People were seen running towards safety following the explosion as many who were hit by splinters fell to the ground.
According to the police, the grenades were hurled by the two accused following directions from active terrorists in the Kashmir valley. They refrained from naming the terror group, but said that they wanted to target the security forces vehicle but the grenade fell in the crowded area.
"The plan was to attack the parked security vehicle but due to grenade throwing from a moving two-wheeler, the target was missed and grenade exploded in an adjacent crowded area," police said.
Issuing an advisory, the Srinagar administration asked shopkeepers and commercial establishments to install CCTV cameras.
"Srinagar Police requests all commercial establishments/shops to install CCTV cameras inside and outside of their shops/commercial establishments as per advisory issued by DC Srinagar. This will act as strong deterrence to all the anti-social elements, who think of committing such atrocious crimes," it added.
An elderly man and a 19-year-old girl were killed after the attackers hurled a grenade in the busy market are at Amira Kadal on Sunday leaving several others injured.
