Soldier, 3 militants among 6 killed in Kashmir violence
SRINAGAR: A 26-year-old civilian was among six people killed in four separate incidents of violence in the Kashmir Valley on Thursday. Police blamed militants for killing the civilian, Saleem Malik, in Srinagar. They said the militants fired indiscriminately and caused his death before fleeing during a search operation.
Malik’s family, though, accused security forces for his “targeted killing”. “He owned a flock of sheep and during the night he woke up due to some noise outside. He thought that thieves [have broken in] and came out… The forces opened fire on him…,” alleged Malik’s uncle, Mohammad Yaseen.
“At Noor Bagh in Srinagar city, security forces, acting on a credible input, cordoned a cluster of houses, where the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately, resulting in death of an individual identified as Saleem Malik, son of Mohammad Yaqoob Malik,” the police said in a statement. Security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse young men, who were part of Malik’s funeral and protesting against his killing.
Kashmiri separatists condemned the killing and called for a shutdown on Friday against what they called “state terror”.
The authorities moved quickly to suspend mobile internet services and impose restrictions on people’s movement.
The spike in violence comes ahead of local bodies’ polls in Jammu and Kashmir from October to December. The polls are seen as part of the Centre’s efforts to turn the tide in the state, where local militant recruitment and violence have escalated since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing in July 2016. In south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, Sepoy Happy Singh, who was from Punjab’s Bathinda, was killed in an exchange of fire with militants at Qazigund. A militant, Asif Malik, was killed when the army retaliated. Police said Asif Malik was a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and involved in several attacks on security forces.
Security forces killed two militants holed up in a mosque at Pandan Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam. Police said the militants first fired on a search party from the mosque. They said an exchange of fire followed after militants refused to surrender despite appeals from the mosque management.
“We tried to maintain the sanctity of that place but militants fired indiscriminately… many of our men, including two army men and a CRPF jawan, were injured. The militants were ultimately killed,” said Budgam police superintendent Tejinder Singh. The two militants were identified as Shiraz Ahmad Bhat from Chadoora and Irfan Ahmed Dar from Pulwama. In north Kashmir’s Kupwara, an unidentified man was killed in the Chowkibal area, the police said.