SRINAGAR: Militants attacked a mobile phone shop in India-held Kashmir on Monday, killing one employee and wounding two, in the second attack in as many days to target telecommunication businesses in the region.

They fired at a franchisee outlet of state-owned company BSNL in Sopore before fleeing, a senior police officer said.

The attack follows the appearance last week of posters – bearing the name of Lashkar-e-Islam – in the same area, warning phone companies to shut down their operations and landlords to dismantle mobile phone towers erected on their property.

“We warn these telecommunication companies to close all networking services, close their offices and stop recharging services as well. We warn the retailers as well to stop recharging the subscribers within seven days,” the posters read.

Militants hurled two grenades at a mobile phone tower used by Vodafone, Aircel and Airtel near a police station on Sunday. One of the grenades exploded near the tower without causing any damage.

They also killed an Indian soldier in the south on Monday after opening fire on an army patrol, the police officer said. The army then killed one of the attackers after returning fire.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2015

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