The incident comes in just two days after a joint patrol party of CRPF and police was attacked by suspected terrorists in Srinagar’s Karan area

Nineteen people were injured on Monday when militants lobbed a grenade on civilians at a bus stand in Sopore town of Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said.

Three people were seriously injured in the attack which took place near Hotel Plaza at 4:15pm, officials said, two days after six personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were similarly injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants in Srinagar on Saturday evening.

Troops of 179 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) reached the location and have cordoned off the area, they added.

More details are awaited.

Monday’s attack is the fifth such attack in the Valley since Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was removed on August 5 and the state was bifurcated in two Union territories. The state will be formally divided on October 31.

The attack also comes a day before a delegation of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) is bound for Jammu and Kashmir in their private capacity.

The group of 28 MEPs is visiting Kashmir against the backdrop of international criticism of the security lockdown, detentions and communications blackout imposed following the government’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

This is the first time lawmakers from abroad have been allowed to travel to the Kashmir Valley.

Suspected militants had carried out a grenade attack in a market place at Hari Singh High Street in Srinagar on October 12, injuring at least seven people, including a woman.

On October 5, at least 14 people, including two women and a policeman, were injured in a grenade attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Last month, CRPF had claimed that its men on law and order duties in Srinagar were targeted by a grenade which did not cause any damage.