Srinagar, Sep 26 (IANS): Masked assailants stabbed an apple orchard owner in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Thursday.

Police sources said Gulam Mohammad Rather was harvesting apples in his orchard in Shopian town when the assailants stabbed him.

"He has been shifted to hospital for treatment. A manhunt was launched to nab the assailants," police sources said.

Militants have been warning local orchard owners and fruit dealers not to open fruit mandis in the Valley. In many cases the orchard owners have been threatened not to continue their trading with apple dealers from outside the valley.

In another incident, five occupants of a private car were injured in a road accident involving a security forces' vehicle at Hamray on the Srinagar-Baramulla national highway on Thursday.

Immediately after the accident an angry mob torched the security forces vehicle. Police sources said the security forces exercised extreme restraint to ensure that no one among the angry mob got injured.