Four injured in Sopore militant attack

Four members of a family, including a two year-old-girl, were injured when unidentified militants opened fire at the residence of a fruit dealer in Sopore town of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Friday night.

Reports said three to four masked militants resorted to indiscriminate firing outside the residence of Abdul Hamid Rather, the fruit dealer, resulting in injuries to four people from his family.

Although Rather was not present in the house during the shooting, the militants opened fire at his son Arshid Rather, his 2-year-old granddaughter Asima Jan and two other people closely associated with the family. It is unclear where Asima’s mother was at the time of the incident.

Though no militant outfit claimed responsibility for the attack, sources said it seems to be the handiwork of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit.

“In the past few days, militants have been warning fruit dealers in Sopore to observe shutdown and not to carry any business activities in the area. Today’s attack seems to be an attempt to frighten the traders,” they said.

Last week a shopkeeper was killed in Parimpora area on the outskirts of Srinagar city by the militants for keeping his shop open. In the last two weeks, militant posters have appeared outside mosques across Kashmir asking traders not to open shops, employees not to attend their duties and transporters not to ply their vehicles.

A senior police officer told DH that taking advantage of the prevailing unrest in Kashmir, some militants have moved to Srinagar and other towns of the Valley in recent weeks. “With the help of their over-ground-workers (OGWs) network, the militants are making sure that shutdown continues in Kashmir at least till last week of September when United Nations General Assembly meeting ends,” he said.

State police chief Dilbagh Singh said that most parts of Kashmir were restriction-free and the situation was improving with each passing day. “The inter-district transport is plying normally and people have started to resume their normal work,” he told reporters.