Terrorists Kill Punjab-Based Fruit Trader, Injure Another In Kashmir

Suspected militants on Wednesday shot dead an apple trader from Punjab and a laborer from Chhattisgarh in separate incidents in south Kashmir, taking the death toll of people from outside of the state killed by militants to three since Monday, the police said. The brick kiln worker from Chhattisgarh was killed by two militants in Kashmir’s Pulwama. In Shopian, another civilian, who was with the apple trader, was critically injured in Wednesday’s attack. Three militants were also killed by security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said. The attacks come in a week when officials relaxed a ban on post-paid mobile calls after a 72-day blackout following the effective revocation of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu & Kashmir and bifurcated it into two Union territories.