Indian troops martyr four, including woman, in Srinagar

ISLAMABAD: Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), martyred four Kashmiris, including a 45-year-old woman in Srinagar Thursday.

According to KMS, the troops martyred the youth and the woman during a cordon and search operation in Batamaloo area of the city. The cordon and search operation was continuing in the area till the filing of this report. Earlier, an Indian soldier was injured in an attack in the area.

Hundreds of angry residents clashed with the government forces in Srinagar after the martyrdom of four persons, police and witnesses said. Counterinsurgency police and federal paramilitary forces surrounded the Batamaloo neighbourhood of Srinagar after midnight following a tip-off that freedom fighters were hiding inside a house, triggering an exchange of fire.

Three suspected fighters, believed to be locals, were martyred in the firefight that lasted several hours, police announced on Twitter. “One young woman also died during the encounter,” a police officer told AFP.

“The woman was caught in the crossfire. Her death is unfortunate,” director general of police Dilbagh Singh told reporters. As news of the deaths spread, hundreds of residents took to the streets, throwing stones at government forces who fired tear gas and metal pellets.

The crowd shouted slogans, such as “Long live Pakistan” and “we want freedom”, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. No injuries were immediately reported from the clashes. Armed encounters between freedom fighters and government forces are frequent in the territory, but rare in the capital city.

The last such firefight occurred in June, and left three local fighters dead and 15 houses destroyed in the heart of Srinagar. Thursday’s deaths came a day after similar protests in northeastern Kashmiri town Sopore, where Irfan Ahmed Dar, 26, was found dead hours after he was detained by police. Dar’s family alleged police tortured and killed him, later dumping his body in an open area.

Police however claim Dar was an overground associate of anti-India rebels and escaped from police custody before he was found dead. Dar’s body was not released to his family, and officers buried him in a graveyard reserved for slain freedom fighters.