SRINAGAR: An 18-year-old youth was killed and 22 others were injured as unprecedented violence marred Eid celebrations across the Kashmir Valley on Saturday. Eleven cops were among those injured in stone-pelting by youths.
There were reports of stone-pelters clashing with security forces soon after
Eid prayers in downtown Srinagar,
Baramulla,
Sopore,
Anantnag, and
Kupwara. In the past, such clashes on Eid were limited to downtown Srinagar. Protestors even displayed flags of the so-called Islamic State in Srinagar’s Eidgah area.
The violence on Eid across Valley comes two days after the killing of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari in Lal Chowk, the heart of Srinagar.
The 18-year-old killed in Anantnag was identified as Sheeraz Ahmad. SP Anantnag Altaf Khan said the youth was aiming to throw a hand grenade at security forces when it exploded in his hand. Khan said Ahmad, an over ground worker of a militant organization, had died of injuries which he sustained in the explosion.
Medical superintendent of district hospital Anantnag, Dr Majeed Mahrib, confirmed that the youth sustained multiple injuries. However, residents of Brakpora in Anantnag said he was felled by a bullet.
Elsewhere in the state, 11 cops were injured in stone-pelting by youths in Anantnag.
A jawan was injured when terrorists fired indiscriminately on a CRPF party at Pantha Chowk in Srinagar, police said. CRPF jawans returned the fire but the terrorists escaped.
The injured jawan, constable Dinesh Paswan, has been shifted to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar’s Badamibagh.