Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 24: Militants last night made an attempt to blow up a mobile tower by hurling two grenades at it near Police Station Sopore in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district while an assault rifle has been snatched from Personal Security Officer (PSO) of a Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader tonight.
Militants last night hurled two grenades at a mobile tower shared by three cellular companies of Vodafone, Aircel and Airtel at Kralteng in Sopore. One of the grenades exploded near the tower without causing any damage while the other didn’t explode.
Police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Army cordoned off the area early in the morning and conducted searches. They recovered a live grenade and a Bomb Disposal Squad was called and the grenade was taken away.
Earlier, last week militants barged into the houses of those people on whose properties mobile towers are erected at Dooru, Dangerpora and Shiva in the outskirts of Sopore and asked them to pull down the towers. They were told if they don’t pull them down the towers will be blasted off.
The incident of grenade attack on the tower came few days after the threatening to the owners of the premises where towers are installed.
Earlier, an unknown militant organization, Lashkar-e-Islam threatening posters surfaced in Sopore and Barmulla asking the cellular companies to shut down their outlets in the area.
The militants through posters have directed the owners of the premises where towers are installed to dismantle the mobile towers erected on their property.
The posters read: “We warn these telecommunication companies to close all networking services, their offices and stop recharging services as well. We warn the retailers as well to stop recharging the subscribers within seven days.”
After the appearance of posters, Police and Army have intensified the patrols in the areas where the mobile towers are installed in Sopore and Baramulla to prevent any mischief.
The shopkeepers who were re-charging the mobiles have stopped the re-charge after the repeated threats in Sopore area.
The Deputy Inspector of Police, North Kashmir, Gareeb Dass said that police have already registered a case in the threat posters that appeared in North Kashmir’s Sopore and Baramulla areas under unlawful activities Act. He said that the police are investigating the matter. “We will provide security to the telecom operators who are facing threat”, he added.
In the meantime, militants tonight snatched an AK-47 rifle from BJP local leader’s PSO at village Prechu in Pulwama. The weapon was snatched from the house of BJP leader Gulzar Ahmad Nengroo from his PSO Manzoor Ahmad resident of Kupwara.
The weapon was snatched by Shabir Ahmad Sofi of Tahab Pulwama, driver of the BJP leader. Sofi had been hired by the BJP leader and was with him for long time. Security forces have launched a hunt to trace out Sofi.
Follow our WhatsApp channel