Mobile towers attacked again in North Kashmir;Three attacks in 24 hours make people jittery

Srinagar, July 15: In three different attacks, suspected militants lobbed four hand grenades and triggered a mine blast within span of 24 hours in Pattan town of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Militants according police sources hurled two grenades on Airtel mobile tower located in the premises of one Ghulam Muhammad Wani at Sherpora Pattan on Tuesday evening. “It was a low intensity blast that didn’t cause any damage,” DIG police North Kashmir Range Gareeb Das told News agency.
According to locals both the grenades went off and caused damage to the windowpanes. Some hours after this attack, suspected militants emerged at Nehalpora Pattan and again hurled two hand grenades to blow up Bharti Airtel mobile tower located in the premises of one Ghulam Hassan Bhat. Sources said grenades did not explode but created panic in the area. “A young boy carrying a pistol appeared in our premises and lobbed two grenades towards the tower. We ran for cover and fortunately they didn’t explode. We immediately informed police,” the son of Bhat told News agency.
Reports said that a police party from police station rushed towards the spot of incident, however, as their vehicle reached near grid station, suspected militants triggered a mine blast to inflict maximum damage on police. “It was trap and fortunately, the mine did not explode as per its strength. If there would have been blast, it would have killed several cops. The militants failed to trigger it successfully,” DIG police Norht Kashmir Gareeb Das said.
He said that hunt has been launched to nab the assailants.
Meanwhile, the attacks on mobile towers have forced many landlords to flee from their houses. “I am not going to take any risk this time. Anything can happen so I have decided to migrate to other part of the district for time-being,” said a landlord. Pertinently, in May and early June, Lashker-e-Islam – a hitherto unknown militant outfit – launched a spate of attacks against telecom employees and those who have rented out space for installation of mobile towers. The attacks left two persons dead and led to the brief suspension of the services in parts of Baramulla and nearby Bandipora districts especially Sopore and adjoining areas.(CNS)