■ Truck driver killed, 2 hurt in stone-pelting:

2 civilians also seriously injured in incidents across Valley: Police

A truck driver was killed and two other civilians including a woman were seriously injured in stonepelting incidents across the Kashmir Valley during the past 24 hours, the police said on Monday.

The police said that Noor Muhammad Dar was hit by a stone hurled at his truck from a side-street in the highway town of Bijbehara, 48-km south of Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, late Sunday night.

The police said that the truck was targeted by the stone-pelters, taking it as a security forces’ vehicle. “The stone pierced the pane and injured the driver in his head. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where from he was shifted to Srinagar’s Sheri-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for specialized treatment. He, however, succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead on arrival,” a statement issued by the police here said.

Dar was a resident of Zardipora Uranhall, a village of J&K’s Anantnag district.

The police have identified two other civilians injured in the stone-pelting incidents as 16-yearold Ajay Kumar, a resident of J&K’s Udhampur district, and Mehmooda Yusuf from Srinagar’s Kawadara locality.

The police said that Kumar suffered injuries in his right eye and nose in Galandar area of southern Pulwama district whereas Ms. Mehmooda was hit by a stone in Srinagar’s Hawal area. “The police have taken stringent actions against the culprits involved in these heinous crimes and also warned that whosoever found involved in any stone-pelting incident will be dealt with sternly under law,” the statement added.

Some reports pouring in here said that irate crowds of youth have damaged a few shops and a fuel station in the Valley’s Ganderbal, Baramulla and Kupwara districts over the past two days. But the police neither denied nor confirmed these incidents.

◗ The police said that Noor Muhammad Dar was hit by a stone hurled at his truck from a sidestreet in the highway town of Bijbehara, 48-km south of Jammu