In a gruesome day in the troubled India-controlled valley, three people including a 70-year-old chemist have been shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Kashmir.
Police said a street food vendor and a cab driver were also killed in the gunshots—all in separate ambushes in a span of just an hour, according to NDTV.
Makhan Lal Bindroo, a prominent businessman and the owner of Bindroo Medicate pharmacy in Srinagar's Iqbal Park, was shot at from point-blank range inside his pharmacy around 7 pm on Tuesday. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The police and security forces rushed to the spot but his attackers had already escaped. The area around his pharmacy has been sealed off and a search operation is underway, the police said.
A Kashmiri Pandit, Bindroo remained in Kashmir and ran his pharmacy even at the peak of terrorism in the 1990s.
Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah condemned the attack and conveyed his "heartfelt condolences to his family".
"What terrible news! He was a very kind man. I've been told he never left during the height of militancy and remained with his shop open. I condemn this killing in the strongest possible terms & convey my heartfelt condolences to his family. God bless his soul," he tweeted.
Soon after the incident, the attackers struck at Lal Bazar in downtown Srinagar and killed a street food vendor who has been identified as Virender Paswan by the police. A resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar, he was living in Srinagar's Zadibal area, the police said. This is the fourth civilian killing in Srinagar in the last four days.
In a third terror attack within an hour in the Union Territory, another civilian was shot dead by terrorists in Bandipora. The man has been identified as Mohammad Shafi, the president of a taxi stand in the area.
