SRINAGAR: A day after targeting two telecom outlets and mobile tower in Srinagar, militants on Saturday bombed a bus stand and ambushed an army patrol party in South Kashmir, killing a civilian and injuring five others including a paramilitary CRPF man.
Police said militants lobbed a grenade towards a busy bus stand at Achabal in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district at around 2 pm.
The grenade exploded with a big bang injuring six persons including a paramilitary CRPF man, a woman and her minor child. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, where from one of the critically injured Mohammad Jabbar was referred by Srinagar hospital for specialized treatment.
Jabbar, a small time ice-cream vendor, later succumbed to injuries in the hospital.
After the grenade blast, police and paramilitary personnel laid siege around the area and conducted search operation to nab the attackers. However, no arrests were reported.
Meanwhile, militants attacked a patrol party of army inside a forest area in South Kashmir’s Shopian district this morning.
“Based on inputs about movement of militants in the forest area of Dubjan, Shopian, a patrol party of army’s Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation during the preceding night. At around 0830 hours today, militants fired towards the army’s patrol party,” an army official said.
He said the fire was returned by the troops, triggering an encounter. “As the encounter was going on, police personnel also joined the operation”.
Sources said militants managed to escape after exchanging heavy gunfire with security forces for couple of hours.
Over two dozen militants, according to police sources, are active in South Kashmir. 20-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, who has become face of the militants in the Valley, is also active in South Kashmir.
The militants had yesterday bombed telecom outlets and a mobile tower in Srinagar injuring two persons.