Ex-government officer dies in Kashmir blast

By Hilal Mir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA): A retired government official was killed in a grenade blast and a civilian was shot dead by gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir on Friday.

A police officer said an unidentified person hurled a grenade at a police station in the Indian-administered Kashmir's capital Srinagar on Friday evening.

Two people were injured in the explosion and one of them later died at a hospital. He was identified as Ghulam Nabi Ahangar, a 62-year-old retired government officer.

The other, 45-year-old Rafiq Ahmad Shala, suffered splinter injuries and was under treatment at the same hospital, the official said.

In another incident, a civilian identified as Shabbir Ahmad Bhat was targeted by unknown gunmen outside his house in Tral, a short distance from Srinagar.

Bhat was shot multiple times and died at a nearby hospital, police officer Tahir Salim told Anadolu Agency.

The situation in Indian-administered Kashmir has been particularly tense since Aug. 5 last year, when Narendra Modi’s government stripped the region of its semi-autonomous status and enforced a lockdown and communications blockade.

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the disputed territory is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.