Civilian killed as search op triggers clashes in Pulwama
SRINAGAR: A civilian was killed and another injured after security forces allegedly opened fired on protesters during clashes in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Monday.
The Pulwama and its adjoining district Shopian have the highest concentration of militants in the entire south Kashmir. According to a senior police official, the forces launched a massive cordon-and-search operation in more than 15 villages in Pulwama this morning following information about the presence of militants in the area.
At the time of the operation, a group of youths started hurling stones at the forces in some places, he added. Two persons were injured in firing by the forces during clashes in Gusoo village. The two were taken to a hospital, from where, one of them, Fayaz Ahmad Wani, was referred to the SMHS Hospital in Srinagar. He, however, succumbed to his injuries, said the police official.
“As Amarnath Yatra ends, more than 20 villages of south Kashmir are under massive cordon and search operation. Forces went berserk in Muran, Pulwama, one civilian Fayaz Ahmed shot dead by forces, more than 25 injured as people came out to resist the operation to harass them. Terrorising,’’ Hurriyat chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq tweeted.
A protest broke out at the hospital when relatives of Wani came to know about his death. As the body of the youth was being ferried to Pulwama, police stopped the ambulance and diverted it towards the police control room.
The police official said the cordon was laid around those villages which act as a corridor between Shopian and Pulwama districts for militants. “The aim was to build pressure on the militants and in coming days more operations could be held in the area,’’ he added.
The operation was launched in the backdrop of militant action in which they abducted and then released 11 relatives of policemen which was seen as reprisal act for detaining Asadullah Naikoo, father of Riyaz Naikoo — the operational commander of Hizbul Mujahideen.