Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 15: Militants this evening struck at three liquor shops on the bank of Dal lake in Srinagar inside a Government run hotel, Heemal, killing an employee while injuring four others.
Police said unidentified pistol borne militants fired from point blank range at the three liquor shops killing one of their employees and injuring four others.
The gunmen fired at the time when the shops had good number of customers. The gunmen immediately fled from the spot after carrying out the attack leaving 5 persons, all of them employees of the three liquor shops in a pool of blood.
Four of the injured were shifted to hospitals while one person’s body was recovered from inside the shop. The dead person has been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad of Aloochabagh, Srinagar.
The injured have been identified as Fayaz Ahmad Khanday of Aloochi Bagh, Mohammad Sharief Sheikh of Batamaloo, Srinagar and Ravi Kumar of Kathua area of Jammu. They have been admitted in Srinagar’s SMHS hospital.
Another injured identified as Sunny Mehra of Jammu, was admitted in SKIMS hospital in Soura Srinagar.
Police immediately rushed to the spot and cordoned the hotel but militants had managed to flee from the place. The attack caused panic in the area which is a tourist hub.
A Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on liquor shops. The spokesman of the outfit, Juniadul Islam, while claiming the attack asked for closure of the liquor shops in the Valley.
There was no prior input to the security agencies regarding the targeting of liquor shops in Srinagar city but there was growing resentment over these liquor shops from hoteliers and houseboat owners as it was causing traffic jams and nuisance for the tourists who were loitering around Boulevard.
This was the second major strike within a month by militants in the city following an attack at a hotel, Silver Star, on Parimpora-Pantha Chowk bye-pass road near Lasjan on October 19, killing two employees of the hotel. The attack was carried out by four Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.
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