Militants strike twice in Kashmir; soldier among three killed

Three persons, including a soldier and a militant, were killed and two people were injured today as ultras targeted an army patrol and a franchise of BSNL at two places in Kashmir, police said.
Militants opened fire at an army patrol at Kanjikulla in Yaripora area of south Kashmir's Kulgam district, about 80 kms from here, a police officer said.
Sepoy Dharam Ram was injured in the firing and succumbed later, the officer said.
Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and tracked down a militant to an orchard where he was killed in a brief gunfight, the police officer said.

Earlier in the day, militants fired at a franchisee outlet of BSNL at Iqbal Market in Sopore in north Kashmir Baramulla district, 52 kms from here.
The attack was apparently directed at telecom operators who have been threatened earlier, a police officer said.

He said three workers of the BSNL franchisee were injured in the firing and they were rushed to a local hospital, where doctors referred them to a hospital in Srinagar for treatment.
One among the injured, Mohammad Rafiq (26), a resident of Handwara area of Kupwara district, succumbed to his injuries at the Srinagar hospital.
The two injured, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat (40) and Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone (30), both residents of Sopore township, were being treated, the officer said.

This was the second terror attack in Sopore in less than 48 hours. Earlier during the intervening night of May 23 and 24, suspected ultras had hurled a grenade at a residential compound where a mobile transmission tower was installed.
Although officials were tight-lipped as to why the militants were targeting telecom installations, sources said the ultras were upset about "theft" of their communication equipment from mobile transmission towers in Sopore and surrounding areas earlier this month.
The militants had allegedly installed communication equipment atop the towers of private and PSU companies.