Surface and air links between Kashmir and rest of the country were cut off on Wednesday due to snowfall in the valley as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed for traffic and all flights to Srinagar Airport cancelled.
The Kashmir Valley remained cut-off from rest of the country for the second consecutive day on Saturday, but improvement in weather has raised hopes of early restoration of traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
One more infant died at the G B Pant hospital in Srinagar, leading to protests by grieved family members who blocked the Srinagar-Jammu national highway for an hour.
A senior police officer told rediff.com that militants made an attempt to target an army patrol in Sangam village on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway by hurling a grenade which, however, missed the target and exploded outside a doctor's clinic.
Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second day on Monday as snowfall blocked the vital Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and delayed all scheduled flights to the Valley.
Fifteen pilgrims were killed and 18 others wounded in a road accident in the mountainous Ramban district of Jammu region on Saturday night.
The CRPF personnel, part of road opening deployment, were sitting inside their vehicle at Pantha chowk bypass around 5.50 pm along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway when, terrorists carried out the attack.
Heavy snowfall lashed Kashmir on Saturday morning, bringing normal life to a halt.The snowfall has forced the closure of the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for the second day today. State authorities said snow clearance operations have started, but the traffic on the highway would be allowed to ply only when the weather improves. Road connectivity between different districts of the Valley and Srinagar has also been disrupted by the heavy snowfall.
The 300-km Srinagar Jammu national highway, the lone road linking Kashmir valley to rest of the country was thrown open for one way traffic on Wednesday evening, thanks to the round-the-clock efforts put in by the border roads organisation to make the road traffic worthy.
Kashmir remained cut off from rest of the country for the third consecutive day on Tuesday as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was blocked due to snowfall even as authorities were trying to operate flights to the Valley in view of improving weather.
In all, over a dozen people were injured in the explosion in the main market in Bejibehara town located on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
A police official said two soldiers were also injured in the attack that took place at the place crowded with civilians at Kadlabal in Pampore town of Pulwama district on Saturday afternoon.
The security forces including army launched a counter-insurgency operation in Chancer area of Kulgam district on Friday night, following information about presence of ultras in the area, police officials said.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday and restrictions were put in place in other towns to thwart a march called by separatists.To protest the killing of three teenagers allegedly by the police, the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to march to south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Monday.The forces beefed up security arrangements in the old city area of Srinagar.
Snowfall brought cheer to many Kashmiris.
Sources said no vehicles were being allowed to leave Srinagar or Jammu on Friday as about one foot of snow had accumulated near the tunnel at Banihal. They said about 2,000 passengers, besides drivers and conductors of trucks and other vehicles, have been stranded on the highway for the past three days.
Hamid Bagwan, a resident of Doda, was arrested during a vehicle search.
The closure of the only road link resulted in increase in the prices of essential commodities and shortage of LPG and other items.
Nine civilians were injured in the grenade attack carried out by militants at Southern Awantipora town, 30 km from Srinagar, on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Sunday morning, a police spokesman said.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition, which includes an AK-47 rifle, magazines, grenades, RPG-7 rocket launcher, was recovered from the encounter site, he said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Unidentified militants lobbed a grenade on a CRPF patrol at Awantipora chowk, 30 kms from Srinagar, around 1215 IST, they added.
A massive landslide triggered by torrential rains at Somroli in Udhampur, 275 km from Srinagar, blocked the arterial road in the morning, the police said.
To help the civil administration, air force under operation 'Hamsafar' pressed its load carrying fleet into service and ferried a total of 300 metric tons of food items from Jammu to Srinagar.
Kashmiris stranded in Jammu due to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway have demanded subsidised airfares from the government to help them fly back to Srinagar.
The Valley is under darkness due to damage to four power transmission towers near the Jawahar tunnel.
According to the Met department, Srinagar recorded 0.4 mm of snowfall till 0830 am.
As news started pouring in about the plight of the stranded tourists, the administration swung into action and started free boarding and lodge for the tourists.
The accused, identified as Tariq Mir, a resident of Maldoora of Shopian district in south Kashmir, was the fifth person arrested in the case which came to light when Singh was arrested along with three terrorists including a most wanted Hizbul Mujahideen commander in January this year.
The arterial road that links Kashmir with the rest of the country was partially opened to traffic on Tuesday after remaining closed for a fortnight.
A militant ambush near the highway of Qazigund town in south Kashmir's Kulgam district left 4 Central Reserve Police Force troopers injured on Saturday evening.
Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf, who are sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief and one of the most wanted terrorists, Salahuddin, were also dismissed from service for allegedly being involved in terror funding, the officials said.
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