Militants strike twice in Kashmir; soldier among 3 killed

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 25

Three persons, including a soldier and a militant, were killed and two people were injured on Monday as militants targeted an Army patrol and a franchise of BSNL at two places in Kashmir.

Militants opened fire at an Army patrol at Kanjikulla in Yaripora area of south Kashmir's Kulgam district, about 80 kms from here, a police officer said.

Sepoy Dharam Ram was injured in the firing and succumbed later, the officer said.

Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and tracked down a militant to an orchard where he was killed in a brief gunfight, the police officer said.

Earlier in the day, one person was killed and two others injured when suspected militants opened fire on a showroom of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in north Kashmir’s Sopore town, where a hitherto unknown group calling itself Lashkar-e-Islam had asked telecom companies to shut their services.

A senior police official said one employee of the BSNL franchise Iqra Telecommunications was killed while two have been injured in the firing in Sopore market.

Mohammad Rafiq (26), a resident of Handwara area of Kupwara district, succumbed to his injuries at the Srinagar hospital.

The two injured, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat (40) and Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone (30), both residents of Sopore, were being treated at local hospitals.

The police suspect Hizbul Mujahideen militants hand in the firing incident, following which security forces were rushed to the spot and the market was cordoned off. Earlier on Saturday night, suspected militants had hurled two grenades targeting cellular towers in Sopore town. 

The militants in the past fortnight had threatened and thrashed many residents in and around the town in whose compound the towers of telecom companies were installed and asked them to dismantle them. 

On May 1, the suspected militants had raided three offices of telecom companies in Sopore town and claimed that a device which they had fitted to a mobile phone tower has gone missing and demanded it be handed back immediately.

Police sources said the device has been identified and recovered.

“The device was used by militants for their wireless communication and initial investigation suggests it belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen,” the sources said.

With PTI inputs