In yet another attack, unidentified gunmen stormed a house with a mobile tower installed in the premises at Dooru Sopore and killed its owner on Tuesday.
Official sources told Srinagar based news agency GNS that the gunmen barged into the house at around 9:30 and fired indiscriminately at Ghulam Hassan Dar (60) son of Abdul Khaliq Dar. Dar, a former militant of Al-Jihad outfit who had surrender in 1993 and released after 13 months detention, was shifted to hospital but doctors declared him brought dead. Dar’s son, Tanveer Ahmad Dar is a Congress Sarpanch.Sources said that the unidentified gunmen had three ago visited Dar and asked him to close down the Airtel tower in his house premises.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer while confirming the incident to GNS said that soon after the attack, police and army cordoned off the entire village and launched searches to track down the attackers. The killing comes a day after gunmen attacked Iqra Telecommunications and Electronics at Shah Faisal market Sopore and, critically injuring Mohammad Rafiq Dar son of Mohammad Akbar, a resident of Pohru Handwara; shop owner Ghulam Mohammad Bhat son of Abdul Majid Bhat and Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone son of Abdul Rashid Lone, both residents of the town. Rafiq had later succumbed at SMHS Hospital.
The attacks also came in the backdrop of threatening posters, issued by some ‘Lashkar-e-Islam’, asking such owners and mobile franchises to wind up their businesses in the area.The mobile recharge retailers were shut in twin towns of Sopore and Baramulla, witnesses said.They said the owners of telecom outlets, retailers and showroom at many places had placed placards outside with inscription of ‘showroom is closed’ while several others brought their sign boards of shops down. (GNS)