A grenade blast at a crowded bazaar near the heart of Srinagar on Sunday left around a dozen civilians injured and prompted a call from chief minister Omar Abdullah to the security forces to immediately contain the rise in attacks.

Omar’s father and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah had on Saturday suggested that the sudden surge in militant attacks in Kashmir could be a domestic plot to destabilise his son’s government and pointed a finger at (government) “agencies”.

Omar on Sunday did not blame the “agencies” for the attacks but desisted from calling them militant strikes. He mounted pressure on the security administration, which comes under lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, to curb these attacks.

“The last few days have been dominated by headlines of attacks & encounters in parts of the valley. Today’s news of a grenade attack on innocent shoppers at the ‘Sunday market’ in Srinagar is deeply disturbing,” Omar said on X.

“There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians. The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear.”

Officials said the grenade attack took place at a time when the city centre was teeming with Sunday shoppers. The place where the grenade was lobbed is close to the Tourist Reception Centre, Doordarshan and Radio Kashmir.

The security forces maintain round-the-clock vigil in the area. It appears the grenade was lobbed at the forces but missed the target.

Such attacks were common in Srinagar in the early years of militancy three-and-a-half decades ago.

The Sunday market, which stretches several kilometres along the road between the Tourist Reception Centre and Jahangir Chowk, attracts thousands of people from across Kashmir.

An official said the injured, who included several teenagers, had been taken to hospital. The attack triggered panic, prompting many shoppers to run for cover.

Three of the injured have been identified as Misba, 17, Azan Kaloo, and Faisal, 16.

This is the second incident of violence in Srinagar in two days. On Saturday, a 12-hour gunfight left a militant dead and reduced a palatial house to ashes.

Kashmir has witnessed nearly a dozen attacks or gunfights since Omar’s government was sworn in on October 16, with 15 people killed and more than a dozen injured.

Farooq on Saturday publicly wondered why the attacks had started after his son had assumed charge, and called for an “independent inquiry”. He ruled out a Pakistani hand.