Three women tourists from Maharashtra were killed and four others were injured in Kashmir's Anantnag district Saturday when a gas cylinder on their vehicle exploded, police said, clarifying it was not a grenade attack by militants.
"Three women tourists identified as Neesha Jeetwah, Nirmala Rathore and Indu Bhae, all belonging to Maharashtra, died while four others were injured in a gas cylinder explosion inside their Tempo Traveller vehicle in Bijbehara this (Saturday) afternoon," police here said.
According to the police, the vehicle, bearing registration number JK02AP/0676, was on way from Srinagar to Pahalgam, when the blast occurred in the south Kashmir district.
While two women died on the spot, the third succumbed to her injuries at an hospital here.
Police had earlier said that separatist guerrillas hurled a grenade at the Tempo Traveller vehicle, resulting in the blast. They, however, later began forensic investigations to ascertain the actual nature of the explosion.
The last grenade attack on tourists by militants occurred in 2006.