Stray bullets kill minor girl, injure boy in north Kashmir encounter

TRAGEDY IN VALLEY Police confirm girl aged between 7 and 10 years was hit by a stray bullet when she was sitting at home, another injured minor said to be stable ACCORDING TO AN ARMY SPOKESPERSON, THE IDENTITY OF THE MILITANTS IS YET TO BE ASCERTAINED. THREE WEAPONS WERE ALSO RECOVERED FROM

THE ENCOUNTER SITE

A week after a 15-yearold boy was killed during an encounter, another minor girl fell prey to a stray bullet in north Kashmir on Wednesday.

A police press release identified the girl as Kaneeza, though the authorities could not confirm her age.

However, independent reports suggested she was aged between seven and 10 years.

“A minor girl named Kaneeza and a minor boy Faisal were injured after they were hit by stray bullets more than 100 metres away from the encounter site. They were shifted to hospital for treatment where the girl succumbed to her injuries. The boy has been referred to Srinagar and his condition is stable so far,” the police spokesperson said.

While the army was tightlipped about the minor girl’s death, DGP SP Vaid said the bullet “hit her inside her home”.

“It’s an unfortunate incident. The girl was sitting inside her house when a stray bullet hit her,” Vaid said.

Three militants were also killed while a policeman named Danish Ahmad was injured in the encounter that started early morning in Kalaroos village after forces received specific information about presence of militants in the area.

According to an army spokesman, the identity of the militants is yet to be ascertained. Three weapons were recovered from the encounter site.

A 15-year-old civilian, Amir Nazir, was killed on Thursday in an encounter between security forces and militants in Padgampora of Pulwama district in south Kashmir.

He received a bullet injury to his neck.

A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words and a photograph of an anguished Kashmiri boy with tears rolling down his cheeks said volumes last week about the human suffering sweeping the region.

The snapshot, taken at the funeral of a teenager killed during an encounter in Padgampora of Pulwama in south Kashmir, is already being described by some as the defining image of the tragedy: Something as powerful as that of a young man seeking to block the advance of tanks in China’s Tiananmen Square or that of the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi who perished while trying to escape the Syrian war.

The Kashmiri boy catapulted to public gaze, however, considers himself no celebrity. For nineyear-old Burhan Fayaz, the picture just captured his angst and despair at losing his best friend, Amir. “I am still sad,” the student of Class 3 in Begumbagh’s government primary school said.

His friend Amir was among the hundreds of locals who had run towards the encounter site with a view to disrupt the security operation and let the militants escape. Villagers physically attempting to help cornered militants by hurling stones at security forces are a new phenomenon in Kashmir, despite stern warnings from army chief Bipin Rawat.

Amir, a student of Class 9, died after being hit by a bullet in the neck. His family says he was ‘targeted’ while the police say the villain was a ‘stray bullet’. Thousands, including Burhan, attended the funeral in his Begumbagh village, some four