Man critical after ‘shooting’ incident in central Kashmir

n SRINAGAR : A man was critically injured in an alleged shooting incident near an army camp in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Friday evening. The circumstances of the shooting are not clear yet.

The injured man was identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Ganie, a resident of Magraypora in Budgam, who has been shifted to a hospital in Srinagar for advanced treatment.

Superintendent of police (SP) Budgam, Tejinder Singh quoted doctors saying that the man has a metallic injury in his head while a bullet injury in his leg. “We have taken cognisance and are investigating,” Singh said.

While local reports blamed army personnel for the firing, army said that the man was shot at by militants.

Army spokesman Rajesh Kalia, in a statement, said that Ishfaq Ahmad Ganie was shot at by the terrorists, 500-600 metres away from the army camp at Chhatargam.

“When the Army troops heard sound of firing, the Quick Reaction Team rushed towards the direction of fire to find out what was happening. When the party reached the spot, they saw Ishfaq in a pool of blood. He had bullet injuries, one in head and the other in leg and was immediately taken to Chhatargam hospital from where doctors shifted him to SMHS,” Kalia said.

He said that the reports of individual lobbing the grenade on army camp and army retaliation are completely baseless.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident police were ascertaining reports that suspected militants allegedly lobbed a grenade at the residence of a Congress leader in Monghama Tral in south Kashmir. The grenade exploded without causing any loss of life or damage.

A police official said that they were investigating the reports of the attack.