Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel inspect the site of a grenade attack next to a telecom tower in Srinagar yesterday.

IANS/Srinagar

Four serial attacks here yesterday to disrupt mobile phone services have thrown service providers into panic and security agencies into a tizzy.
The first attack happened in the morning when unidentified men forcibly entered an Aircel service centre in the busy commercial hub of Karan Nagar, forced the staff to stop business and leave before hurling a powerful hand grenade that destroyed the centre’s furniture and fixtures.
An autorickshaw driver, Shahnawaz Ahmad, was injured in the blast and admitted to the nearby SMHS hospital for treatment.
Minutes later, another group of the attackers forced staff out of the Vodafone service/sale centre adjacent to Karan Nagar area and exploded another grenade inside, sending a clear message that they wanted mobile phone services to be shut in the city.
Even as police launched a manhunt to nab the attackers, a BSNL tower was attacked with a grenade in the Shaheedgunj area, adjacent to the civil secretariat that houses all the top offices of the state government including those of the chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and all the senior bureaucrats.
Another civilian was injured in this explosion.
Barely an hour after the third attack, another grenade went off at a mobile phone tower in Wazir Bagh area of the city.
Yesterday’s serial attacks are the first such incidents in Srinagar city through which the unknown assailants virtually declared a war on cellular operations in the state capital.
Earlier, gunmen had carried out attacks on mobile phone vendors and offices in north Kashmir areas, particularly Sopore town.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah termed the attacks a wakeup call for Mufti Mohamed Sayeed and warned his successor not to take them lightly as “Srinagar is not Sopore”.
Separatists have already distanced themselves from the attacks with Syed Salahuddin, the leader of the Hizbul Mujahideen calling the attackers “enemies of the people of Kashmir”.
Sallahuddin issued a statement on Thursday stating that the Hizbul Mujahideen had expelled Abdul Qayoom Najar over his involvement in “gruesome murder” and the “character assassination of established pro-freedom leadership”.
Security forces say Najar leads a breakaway group called the Lashkar-e-Islam that has perpetrated a series of attacks around Sopore, killing five people including telecoms vendors and former militants.
Just a fortnight back, state police said they had identified and pinned down those carrying out the attacks but the fact that these unidentified gunmen could move freely in the city and carry out more shatters the claims of police.
If the attacks continue not only would it affect the security atmosphere, but also the business sentiment and this would not be able to recover for a long time, feel analysts.