8 killed as ultras target Cong rally

Three days ahead of the prime minister's second round table conference, militants on Sunday struck in a big way, storming a public gathering of the ruling Congress here, leaving eight people dead and about three dozen injured.

Eyewitness accounts said that as Youth Congress activists were assembling at Sher-e-Kashmir park to commemorate the 15th death anniversary of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, two militants in police uniform managed their entry inside.

Hurling hand grenades, the militants opened fire mainly directed at the police and security personnel. A policeman was killed on the spot, while over a dozen, including Kashmir's Inspector General K Rajindera Kumar, a deputy superintendent of police and an inspector, were injured.

The cops immediately took the cover and a gun battle started in which besides the two attackers, four Congress activists and another policeman were killed. According to the police, at least 30 people including 7 police officers were injured in the attack.

In a telephone call to local news agencies, two militant groups, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Al-Mansoorian, claimed the responsibility for carrying out the attack.

Several people were injured in the stampede as the exchange of gunfire inside the park caused commotion in the nearby Sunday market, where hundreds of men and women were doing shopping.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had yet to arrive when the gun battle erupted. However, he came to the spot to take stock of the situation as the gun battle was still on.

"This is a desperate bid of the isolated and vanishing militants to show their presence... the day chosen by terrorists to attack civilians at a public gathering reminds of all such terrorist acts in which great leaders like Rajiv Gandhi lost their lives," Azad said.

The attack comes just before three days of the PM's proposed second round table conference and has come as a major embarrassment for the security forces in the state.

In fact, militants had warned only on Saturday to disrupt the roundtable conference, and had come with a statements claiming that all "preparations" had been done to scuttle the conference.