SRINAGAR, Oct 28: Seven people were killed and 45 others injured on Tuesday in occupied Kashmir on first day of Ramazan.

Ramazan began in occupied Kashmir on Tuesday with a warning from Lashkar-i-Taiba that it would increase attacks during the holy month.

“There will be an escalation in the activities of Mujahideen in the month of Ramazan,” Abu Huzaifa, the spokesman for the Lashkar-i-Taiba group told the Greater Kashmir newspaper.

The newspaper said: “People should keep themselves away from the security installations as according to him (Huzaifa) they could become the unintended targets of such attacks.”

Three soldiers were killed and seven injured in the morning when an army vehicle in a convoy ran over a landmine in the village of Khilani in the southern Doda district, a police spokesman said.

Two of the injured were in a critical condition. The explosion was followed by gunfire from suspected Mujahideen.

Police and army reinforcements then arrived and began searching for the Mujahideen.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Doda is considered to be a stronghold of Hizbul Mujahedin.

Earlier on Tuesday, at least 38 civilians were injured in a grenade attack by Mujahideen on main telegraph office in Srinagar.

The grenade missed its target and exploded near a billing counter, a police spokesman said.

“Some 38 civilians who had come to pay their telephone bills have been injured,” the spokesman said.—AFP