Funeral procession for martyred teenagers in IHK turns violent

HELD SRINAGAR: Thousands of mourners thronged the funeral on Monday of a 14-year-old fighter martyred by Indian troops in held Kashmir, the youngest-ever fighter martyred in the decades-long insurgency, police said.

Mudasir Ahmad Parrey was killed alongside two other militants, one a 17-year-old, outside the city of Srinagar on Sunday. Parrey, a ninth-grade student, went missing in August before emerging in a photograph on social media brandishing an automatic assault rifle and military knife. The young fighters´ deaths sparked angry protests in the restive Himalayan region. A funeral procession Monday for the slain teenagers turned violent as mourners clashed with police, who used tear gas to drive them back.

Many young men die fighting Indian troops but Parrey´s death shocked even a region weary from years of bloodshed. At 14, police said he was the youngest known fighter to have died in the insurgency.

He was martyred in an 18-hour siege by Indian troops in Hajin, outside Srinagar. The home Parrey and the two other militants were holed up in was blasted to rubble. "He had never failed in school exams," mourned his father, Rashid. The teenager also sometimes worked as a labourer to help out with family expenses, he added.

Many Kashmiris sympathise with the militants fighting half a million Indian troops stationed in the heavily-militarised Muslim-majority region. Civilians often pelt soldiers with stones while they are conducting search operations for militants, and funerals for slain fighters draw thousands of mourners and see shops closed.

Police believe the teenagers martyred in Sunday´s fighting joined the militant group around August. Pakistan says it only provides diplomatic support to the Kashmiri struggle for right to self-determination.