Photographs: Umar Ganie
Maulana Showkat Ahmed Shah, chief of the Ahli-Hadees organisation in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed in a powerful bomb explosion outside a mosque in Maisuma locality near Srinagar's city centre Lal Chowk on Friday afternoon.
Shah was just about to step inside the mosque when the bomb exploded, injuring him and another bystander critically, said a senior police official.
Reportage: Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
Blast kills top cleric, Kashmir mourns
Photographs: Umar Ganie
Shah and the other injured bystander were immediately rushed to a hospital in Srinagar, where the Maulana succumbed to his injuries.
Maisuma locality remained tense after the blast as security personnel continued searching the area.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the incident.
Blast kills top cleric, Kashmir mourns
Photographs: Umar Ganie
Meanwhile, Srinagar district police chief Ashiq Bukhari told rediff.com that an improvised explosive device had been tied to a bicycle parked near the mosque entrance.
"The IED exploded as the Maulana was entering the mosque. He was critically injured in the blast and shifted to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries," Bukhari added.
Blast kills top cleric, Kashmir mourns
Photographs: Umar Ganie
Shouting pro-freedom and religious slogans, the supporters of the Maulana carried the body to the martyr's graveyard at Eidgah for burial late on Friday evening.
Blast kills top cleric, Kashmir mourns
Photographs: Umar Ganie
Chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the assassination and called for a shutdown in Kashmir on Saturday.
Blast kills top cleric, Kashmir mourns
Photographs: Umar Ganie
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the blast in a strongly-worded statement.
Omar said that the "killing of a veteran religious scholar is a great loss to the society and those responsible for the crime have exhibited their inhuman behaviour towards the civil society and the innocents".
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