Jammu bus stand blast: 1 dead, 33 injured in grenade explosion

At least one person dead while 33 others sustained serious injuries in a grenade blast beneath a bus at Jammu bust stop on Thursday, Jammu Medical Superintendent said. All the injured were rushed to Government Medical College hospital for treatment in critical condition. This is the third grenade attack by terrorists in Jammu bus stand since May last year. 

"Whenever there is heightened state of alert, we strengthen checking and frisking but there is always a possibility of someone slipping through and this one seems to be a case like that," MK Sinha, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jammu said.

Following the attack, security agencies cordoned off the entire area and a team of forensic experts reached the spot to investigate the blast. According to reports, one suspect has been arrested by the police. The accused had reportedly carried the grenade had in his pocket.

Earlier, Sinha had confirmed that it was a grenade attack and said that approximately 18 people were injured. "It was a grenade explosion, it has caused injuries to approximately 18 people, all shifted to hospital," Sinha said.

According to eyewitnesses, a loud explosion was heard inside a bus. Initially, people thought it was a tyre burst but when they reached the spot it was found out that a grenade has exploded there. So far, no group has claimed the responsibility of the attack.

"I thought it was a tyre burst. it was a big blast. The locals took the injured to the hospital in an ambulance," news agency ANI quoted one of the eyewitnesses as saying.

The incident has taken place days after Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber of the JeM drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy. Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed took the responsibility of the attack. Following this, Indian Air Force carried out a strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp inside Pakistan.