Pulwama, Feb 13: Around thirty students were wounded in a mysterious blast at Narbal village of Kakapora area of southern Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday.
According to locals, some mysterious blast went off in a classroom of Madrasa Falah-i-Millat school at Singo Narbal village around 2:30 pm when students were taking their winter tuitions there.
Faliah-i-Millat is a private school of the Singo village, where local students as well as those from adjacent villages come for private tuitions, said a local resident.
At least 26 students received injuries in different parts of their bodies. The injured students were immediately shifted to different hospitals of the district.
District Hospital Pulwama received three injured students, said a hospital official. One among them was referred to Srinagar for specialized treatment while other two were stable with minor injuries, he added.
Medical Officer at Public Health Centre Kakapora said they received 15 injured students — seven of them were referred to SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, two to Bones and Joints Hospital Barzulla and four to Sub District Hospital Pampore
Block Medical Officer (BMO) Pampore said that they received 12 injured students. Among them four were referred to Bones and Joint Hospital Barzulla, one to SMHS Hospital.
“We don’t know how it happened. We had just finished our English class when a huge blast happened and whole class turned upside down,” said one of the injured students.
He said some 37 students were inside the classroom at the time of the blast.
A police spokesman confirmed the incident and said that a case has been registered and police are assessing the nature and circumstances of the blast.
Meanwhile clashes also erupted in Kakapora area following the school blast.
Witnesses said that policemen arrived in Narbal village soon after the blast but local youth pelted them with stones as they were heading towards the school.
The policemen resorted to tear-gas shelling to disperse the protesters, triggering further clashes.
Locals said that announcements were made over the public address system of a mosque asking youth not to engage in stone-pelting.
Guv expresses sorrow, announces ex-gratia
Governor Satya Pal Malik expressed sorrow over the blast in Pulwama district on Wednesday which left many students injured, a Raj Bhavan spokesman said.
The Governor prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured and announced ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 for each of them. He directed the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir to ensure best possible medical treatment for the students, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah called for a probe into the blast.
“Education must be made conflict neutral. It is unacceptable & inhuman to have explosives going off inside class rooms. I condemn this act unequivocally & hope that it is properly investigated. The truth must be known & the guilty must be severely punished,” Omar tweeted.
