Srinagar: In escalated violence a week after the killing of top militant Gazi Baba, ultras on September 6 triggered two blasts, one at a crowded market on the outskirts of the city, and engaged security personnel in fierce gunbattles across Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people and injuring scores of others.

Nine people were killed and 30 injured when militants exploded a car bomb at the main gate of a fruit market in Parimpora when an Army jeep was passing by at around 09:45 hours (IST), official sources said.

Two security personnel and as many civilians were killed on-the-spot and 35 others, including four Army personnel, injured. One of the injured succumbed on way to hospital and four after reaching there. The condition of most of the injured was critical, they said.

Brigadier A C Chopra, Captain Hitendra Singh and two jawans who were in the jeep, which turned turtle under the impact of the blast, were among those injured.

However, Defence spokesman Lt Col Mukhtar Singh denied any death of security personnel. Six personnel were injured in the blast, he said.

The explosive-laden Ambassador car, the Army vehicle, two trucks and three three-wheelers were badly damaged in the blast which led to cracks in a nearby house and shattered window panes of a few others. It was heard in a two-km radius.

In Doda district, a powerful landmine exploded at around 11:45 hours (IST) at Chirala near the Jammu and Kashmir National Highway, injuring two persons in an Army bus which rolled down a 50-feet-deep gorge under the impact of the blast. The two were the only occupants of the bus.

PTI