SRINAGAR: Nine daysafter being injured in a blast from a grenade hurled by terrorists in a buzzing roadside Sunday flea market in Srinagar, a 45-year-old woman succumbed Tuesday to her wounds in a hospital here.
Bandipora’s Abida was among the swarming throngs at the market near the heavily fortified Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) in central Srinagar, shopping for winter clothes for her three kids when the attack took place on Nov 3, injuring her and 11 others.
Three militants of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were arrested last week for allegedly hurling the grenade towards a CRPF mobile bunker. The grenade missed the target and landed on the road abuzz with people in the market.
The attack occurred a day after the killing of a Pakistani LeT commander by security forces in Srinagar and a day before the J&K assembly was scheduled to begin a five-day session. In March 2022, a grenade attack at the same spot had left two people dead and 30 wounded.
Sunday’s flea market typically draws large crowds from neighbouring districts for its affordable household items and winter clothing, making it a soft target for such attacks.
Back in Naidkhai area of Bandipora’s Sumbal, home to Abida and husband Zubair Ahmad Lone, everyone’s eyes were moist Tuesday looking at their three children: a six-year-old daughter and two sons, one seven and the other five.
“Why are so many people coming to our house,” the seven-year-old son asked his uncle, who struggled for an answer. The kids were unaware of the tragedy that had struck the family. “My mummy has gone to the Sunday market to buy clothes for me and my younger brother and sister. She promised me a blue jacket and long boots for winter,” the son said.
A little later, some relatives took the kids away from their single-storey house to spare the children the trauma of seeing their mother’s body.
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