Attack on Mirwaiz's kin, house

A powerful hand grenade was lobbed inside the heavily guarded residence of Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq at Nageen in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar late on Saturday afternoon.

It exploded in the frontyard of Mirwaiz's house smashing windows panes but no one was injured in the explosion, a senior police officer said.

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Mirwaiz was not in his house at the time of the incident. He was attending to his uncle Moulvi Mushtaq Ahmad who had been shot at and critically wounded earlier in the day by unidentified gunmen while he was offering prayers in a mosque near the Awami Action Committee headquarters.

Ahmad has been hospitalized. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on telephone on Saturday evening and sought details about the attack on Ahmad.

Umar Farooq, a senior leader of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference's Ansari group, has been engaging in parleys with the Centre. The attacks appear like an effort to scare the Mirwaiz and force him to toe the line of Pakistan-based militants.

Meanwhile, a PTI report says that three militant outfits claimed responsibility for the two attacks.

Pro-Pakistan Al-umer Mujahideen, led by Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar who won freedom in lieu of the release of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in December 2000 at Kandahar (Afghanistan), claimed responsibility for the attack on Maulvi Mushtaq for his alleged 'anti-movement' activities.

Lesser-known militant outfits, Save Kashmir Movement and Islamic Resistance Movement also owned responsibility for the attacks.

In a statement to a Srinagar news agency, SKM spokesman Sheikh Tajamul said the attacks are a lesson to those engaged in talks with leaders involved in the Gujarat carnage. He said adding no individual or party can be more sacred than the ongoing holy war and mujahideen.

The IRM claimed responsibility for the attack on the Mirwaiz's house and said it was carried out to make it clear to him and other leaders that no one would be allowed to play the role of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah any more.