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Srinagar: One person was killed and forty others including seven securitymen injured as militants on August 13 set off three powerful blasts and targetted the residence of a ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) MLA in the Kashmir valley ahead of Independence Day, official sources said.

A 30-year-old youth Mushtaq Ahmad Wani was killed and six pedestrians injured when militants exploded a grenade at Koimoh village in Kulgam area of Anantnag district in South Kashmir August 13 afternoon, the sources said.

They said the grenade was lobbed by militants on a security patrol but it missed the intended target and exploded on the road at 12:15 hours (IST) injuring seven persons. Wani succumbed to his wounds on the way to hospital.

Around the same time, a massive blast rocked Bandipora township of Baramulla district in North Kashmir injuring 34 people including five Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and two local policemen.

An improvised explosive device (IED) planted on a bicycle outside a restaurant at the crowded Bandipora chowk exploded when a BSF party was patrolling the area, the sources said.

Four women and three Bihari labourers were among those injured in the explosion which took place at around half past noon when a large number people were present at the restaurant.

Sources said the blast damaged the restaurant, a shop and two vehicles parked nearby besides shattering windowpanes of a building housing the branch office of State Bank of India.

Police and paramilitary forces immediately cordoned off the whole area and shifted the injured to hospital. Condition of eight of the injured, including two BSF personnel and a policeman, was stated to be serious.

All the seriously wounded have been referred to Srinagar for specialised treatment, the sources said.

PTI