STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Over 3o people, including three officers of security forces, were injured on Monday as intense clashes rocked a village in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, officials said.
The clashes erupted shortly after police assisted by Army and CRPF cordoned off Rohomu village for house-to-house searches, the officials said.
As the security forces launched the search operation, the local residents came out on the roads and started protesting, leading to clashes, the officials said.
About 30 people were injured in the clashes as security forces fired dozens of teargas shells and used pellet guns to restore law and order, they said.
Six of the pellet victims, including two girls, were brought to SMHS hospital in Srinagar for specialised treatment, the officials said.
Commenting on the incident, a police spokesman said “security forces cordoned off Rohomu village this morning.
Some miscreants assembled and pelted stones on the forces.
Later on, a huge mob assembled and pelted stones on the security forces camp. The reinforcement was sent to the spot.
“In this incident some persons, police and CRPF personnel including three officers were injured. Most of the injured were discharged after first aid.”
However, the residents alleged that the clashes erupted after security forces started roughing up locals including a retired police officer and smashing window panes of the houses and windscreens of the parked vehicles.
Clashes between protesters and law enforcing agencies also took place at Chitragam village in Shopian district after security forces raided the village to effect some arrests, the officials said.
However, there was no report of any one getting hurt in the clashes, they said.
Cop’s house among 3 structures gutted
Srinagar: Three structures, including a government building and the house of a Special Police Officer (SPO), were gutted under mysterious circumstances in separate incidents of fire in Kashmir Valley on Monday, police said.
Fire broke out in the building of the Horticulture Department at Fruit Mandi in Parimpora area of the city, causing damage to the structure, a police officer said.
He said the house of SPO Naseer Ahmad Malik, posted in Dooru police station, was gutted in another fire incident at Hallan-Chogan village in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
In third incident, the officer said fire broke out in an abandoned house of a migrant pandit Inderjeet Kumar Bhat at Watrusu village of Achabal in Anantnag district, causing partial damage to it.
Police has registered separate cases and started investigations to ascertain the cause of the fire, the officer said, adding there was no report of any causality in the incidents. Meanwhile, the officer said unidentified miscreants hurled a petrol bomb towards a road-side fruit vendor at New Colony area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district this morning.
However, no one was injured in the incident, he said.
