Policemen and onlookers stand at the site of a grenade blast in Jammu March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

JAMMU/SRINAGAR, India – A grenade explosion orchestrated by a Pakistan-based militant group at a bus stand in Jammu killed one person and wounded at least 32 on Thursday, police said.

The blast came three weeks after an attack by another Pakistan-based group killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir, escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

India accuses Pakistan of harbouring militants, which Islamabad denies.

Police said Sajjad Bhat, a Kashmiri Indian national from the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, carried out Thursday’s attack.

“He arrived in Jammu yesterday and carried out the attack this morning, and was fleeing back to Kashmir when he was arrested by police at a checkpoint,” Jammu police chief M.K. Sinha told reporters.

A senior government minister condemned the attack. “I wish the injured a speedy recovery,” added Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Twitter.

Jammu and Kashmir state is divided between Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region that sees a large amount of militant activity, and Jammu, a Hindu-majority region and home to a city of the same name, where such action is less common.

Kashmir has been divided and disputed since the partition of the British colony of India and the creation of independent India and Pakistan in 1947.

They both rule it in part but claim it in full.

Reuters

07/03/2019