Seventeen students were injured in a blast at a school in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, police said.
“The cause of the blast is unclear and investigations are going on,” a senior police official said of the incident in Pulwama district.
The students aged 15 and 16 belonged to the 10th grade at the school in Narbal village and were attending a tutorial class, officials said.
Normal classes in the Kashmir Valley are currently closed for winter vacations.
The injured students had been admitted to two hospitals nearby and a few had been shifted to Srinagar for treatment.
The incident triggered clashes between local people and police as protesters gathered outside the school threw stones at the police.
The policemen resorted to tear gas shelling leading to further clashes, a witness said.
“We were studying and all of a sudden there was an explosion and we ran out and I saw my legs bleeding,” Faisal Ahmad, 16, said.
Javed Ahmed, a teacher who escaped unhurt, could not recall what really happened.
“There was a deafening explosion after which hell broke loose inside the classroom,” he said.
“Honestly, I have no idea how many students were injured.”
Governor Satya Pal Malik expressed deep regrets and approved Rs50,000 to each injured student.
In other developments, two militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in a village in Badgam district during a cordon and search operation, police said.
Incriminating material, including arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site in Gopalpora village of Chadoora area, an officer said.
The joint operation by the police and other security forces was launched on Tuesday night following credible inputs about their presence.
An injured student is taken to a hospital in Srinagar yesterday following a blast at a school in Kakapora area of Pulwama district.
