Militants hurl grenades at 2 telecom company offices in Kashmir

Suspected militants today targeted offices of two private mobile telecommunication companies in the heart of the city by lobbing grenades inside their showrooms. No one was hurt in the incidents which took place within minutes of each other.

Two unidentified youths entered into the office of Aircel at Karan Nagar, located less than 300 metres from Zonal Police Headquarters, at around 11.30 am and asked the staffers to leave, police said.

"The militants then hurled a grenade inside the premises and fled from the place," a police official said.

A similar incident was repeated at Vodafone showroom around 500 metres away from the scene of first attack.

There were no injuries in the two incidents that shook the area, prompting the police to issue an alert for the assailants. The officer said all check points in the city have been alerted after the incident.

Militants had earlier targeted mobile telecommunication facilities in north Kashmir Sopore town in May by carrying out grenade attacks and later killing two persons associated with the telecom trade.

The attacks later spread to nearby Pattan town before militants carried out similar strikes on mobile installations in the city. Today's attacks on mobile telecommunication facilities in Kashmir came after a lull of over a month.