The northern belts of the district, as usual, witnessed isolated pelting of stones on vehicles, including Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses and trucks along the Kasaragod-Manjeshwaram NH stretch in the district on the anniversary of the Babri mosque demolition in 1992.

As many as three KSRTC bus drivers and two truck crew sustained injuries as the vehicles were targeted mostly by youth who deftly managed to hide around the mouth of the pocket roads that link the national highway and fled from the spot on motorbikes, Superintendent of Police A. Srinivas said.

Despite requisitioning two platoons of police, one from neighbouring Karnataka, the trouble-mongers placed themselves in vantage points, ready to attack vehicles on December 5 night itself, he said. Manjeshwaram Uppala Naya Bazar, Uppala Hidayat Nagar, Bandiyode, Kumbla, Mavinakkatta , Arikkadi and Kuniya near Periye witnessed attacks on KSRTC buses, fish trucks at intermittent hours.

Anticipating trouble, the police escorted a few vehicles plying on the Kumbla-Manjeshwaram stretch.

The first stone pelting was reported around 8.30 p.m. as miscreants targeted a Mangaluru bound KSRTC bus near Manjeshwaram smashing its glass panes besides injuring the bus driver who was shifted to the General Hospital here. Manjeshwaram police have registered cases under IPC section 308 (attempt to murder) and under provisions of The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (PDPP) of 1984.

In a possible related incident, a prayer hall at Manya locality near Badiadukka was targeted by miscreants who threw a burning tyre close to the main entrance gate around 2.10 a.m. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, private buses plying on the Hosangadi-Miyapadavu-Uppala route went on a flash strike to protest the sporadic attacks on vehicles during the day.

The police have beefed up security and picketing along the stretch that witnessed erratic incidents of stone-pelting, the police said.

The northern belts of Kasaragod had earned the dubious distinction in the country of vehicles being attacked on almost every Babri mosque demolition day anniversary for the last two decades.

Three KSRTC bus drivers, 2 truck crew sustained injuries in the incidents