Top cleric killed in J&K blast

Srinagar: Militants on Friday killed a prominent religious leader Moulvi Showkat Ahmad Shah,a liberal voice who had denounced stone-pelting and was engaged with Centre’s interlocutors, by triggering an IED blast near a mosque here, drawing condemnation from separatists and political leaders. The chief of Jamiat-e-Ahlihadith, 55-year-old Shah, who survived two bids on his life earlier, was seriously injured as militants detonated at around 12.30 PM the bomb planted in a cycle outside the mosque ahead of Friday prayers in Maisuma area adjacent to Lal Chowk, striking in the heart of Srinagar city. (PTI)