A series of grenade attacks by suspected separatist rebels shook Kashmir’s capital on Friday, killing five people and wounding at least 18, police said.
All those killed were civilians — three women and two men who died of their injuries at the main hospital in Srinagar, said Mushtaq Ahmad, a police officer at the hospital.
Security forces fanned out across the city after the blasts, stopping cars and frisking people.
The blasts began when a grenade was hurled at an Indian paramilitary truck passing through one of the main thoroughfares in Srinagar, injuring two soldiers.
Minutes later, a grenade attack on a busy road killed a young Nepalese woman and a young Kashmiri man and injured six other people, said Superintendent of Police Anand Jain.
Two policemen were injured in a fourth grenade explosion at the city’s main bus station that set a police jeep on fire, Jain said. Another occurred in a neighborhood near the bus station.
The fifth attack occurred at Dal Gate, a promenade by the Dal Lake frequented by tourists and lined by hotels and restaurants. Three people were killed and eight injured.
The attacks happened over about one hour and within two miles of the city center.
A local news agency, Current News Service, reported that four Islamic rebel groups separately claimed responsibility for the attacks. The groups include Jamiat-ul-Mujahedeen, Al-Mansurain, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Islamic Front.
Various Islamic militant groups have been fighting Indian security forces in the insurgency-hit state of Jammu-Kashmir since 1989 to create a separate homeland or merge the Himalayan region into Pakistan.