Mobile Towers Attacked in north Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Suspected militants targeted two mobile towers in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district Wednesday, almost a month after similar attacks in the district left two persons dead.

A top J&K Police officer told The Citizen that four grenades were lobbed at two mobile towers in Pattan town of Baramulla but none of them exploded.

"We have started investigations and it seems the attacks were carried out by the same group that is responsible for previous attacks," the officer said.

The first attack took place in Sherpora locality of Pattan Wednesday evening when two grenades were lobbed in the compound of a house where Airtel has built a mobile tower.

Although the police claimed the grenades didn’t explode, residents said they did and caused damage to windowpanes.

Within hours after the attack, suspects again lobbed two grenades at a mobile tower built on the land of Ghulam Hassan Bhat in Nihalpora village of Pattan but they didn't explode.

No militant outfit claimed responsibility for the attacks which didn't cause any injury or loss of life. However, the attacks created panic among local residents.

The convoy of an Army team that was on the way to Pattan to investigate the cases was targeted by suspected militants who triggered a mine blast near a grid station. However, no loss of life was reported.

The fresh attacks on mobile towers come barely a month after similar attacks in the district left two persons dead and triggered widespread panic among people which had affected mobile services across the Valley.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a BSNL salesman and the landlord of a mobile tower in Sopore. Both the attacks were owned by Lashkar-e-Islam, believed to be a splinter group of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Following the breakdown in mobile services, four more persons, including a senior aide of separatist Syed Ali Geelani, were killed in Sopore with the Hurriyat as well as the opposition National Conference seeking to link the killings with the controversial "terrorist for terrorist" statement of union defence minister Manohar Parrikar.

Meanwhile, a local news agency reported that the attacks forced many landlords to flee from their houses. “I am not going to take a risk this time. Anything can happen, so I have decided to migrate to a relative's home for the time being,” a landlord told the agency.