Protests after encounter in south Kashmir: 1 civilian killed, four injured
Civilians protesting near the site of an encounter to distract security forces and help militants escape is becoming common in Kashmir.
One civilian was killed and at least four others critically injured when security forces allegedly opened fire on protesters in Pulwama district near the site of the gun-battle in which two militants, including Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Waseem Shah, were neutralised in the morning.
According to locals, the civilian casualty and injuries occurred when forces opened fire to quell the protest. A senior Pulwama police officer, however, told HT that the civilian was killed because “he was caught in the cross-fire”.
Locals gathering in large numbers near an encounter site and pelting stones on security forces carrying out counter-insurgency operation to distract them and help militants escape has been a common phenomenon in Kashmir lately.
Read more: Two LeT militants including commander killed in encounter in Kashmir’s Pulwama
“Gulzar Ahmad Mir was brought dead with a firearm injury,” an official at the district hospital Pulwama told HT. He added that two others were rushed in critical condition with firearm injury and they were referred to Srinagar hospitals.
“Another two were brought with pellet injuries -- with one of them hit in the right eye. We have referred them to Srinagar hospitals as well after preliminary check-up.”
Waseem Shah and his accomplice were killed by security forces in an encounter in Litter village in Pulwama early Saturday. Shah hailed from Heff village in Shopian and was a category A++ militant who joined the LeT in March 2014.