2 Militants killed, 123 Civilians Injured, 1000’s Attend Funerals in Shopian
SRINAGAR A civilian teenager and two militants were killed and 123 civilians were injured in government forces action at Kundalan village of south Kashmirs Shopian district on Tuesday.
Two army soldiers including an officer (JCO) were also injured in firefight and were taken to military hospital Badamibagh, Srinagar.
Police said a gunfight started after joint forces team comprising personnel from armys 34 Rashtriya Rifles, paramilitary CRPF and J&K polices SOG cordoned off Kundalan village on pursuing credible leads regarding the presence of (militants).
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As the searches were going on, militants trapped inside a house fired upon the search party (who on) their guarded response fired back, leading to an encounter. Some of the civilians in the nearby houses were quickly evacuated by the forces, a police spokesman said.
During the encounter, all the hiding militants were killed and they were identified as Sameer Ahmad Sheikh, a local and Babar from Pakistan. They were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit JeM, he said.
The encounter sparked violent protests and when the protesters tried to advance towards encounter site to help trapped militants escape, government forces used live ammunition, resulting in the injuries of over 100 protesters, reports reaching here said.
Among the injured included an 18-year-old civilian identified as Tamsheel Ahmed son of Khurshid Ahmed Khan, a resident of Vehil Shopian, who later succumbed to his fatal bullet wounds in his head.
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Giving details, Chief Medical Officer, Shopian Dr Abdul Raheed said that 123 civilians were brought to district hospital Shopian, Harman and Vehil hospitals.
Six among them had bullet injuries and were referred to Srinagar for advanced treatment, he said, adding 17 people with critical pellet injuries were also referred to different Srinagar hospitals. According to Dr Rasheed 14 of them had pellet injuries in their eyes.
Giving details on the customary condition of anonymity, a doctor at District Hospital Kulgam, said that they received 13 injured civilians.
One among them had bullet injury while 6 were hit by pellets in their eyes, all of the seven were referred to Srinagar, he said.
Meanwhile, mobile internet service has been snapped in twin districts of Pulwama and Shopian while the situation in both districts are reported to be tense.
The police spokesman said that the some civilians were injured in cross firing at the site of encounter who were later evacuated to the hospital for medical attention. One of the injured persons later succumbed to his injuries while the other injured are stated to be stable now, he said, adding, Some arms and ammunition were also recovered from the encounter site. Police has registered a case and investigation has been initiated in the instant matter.
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