At least 25 people, including 11 security force personnel, were injured on Tuesday as violent protests rocked Kashmir’s Kulgam district after hundreds of people, defying prohibitory orders, turned up at the funeral of two slain Lashker-e-Taiba militants.
Four of the injured received bullet wounds when a jawan opened fire in self-defence, official sources said adding they were brought to Srinagar for treatment.
The two militants, both locals and identified as Ashraf Moulvi, a self-styled district commander, and 18-year-old Rouf Ahmad Bhat, were killed in a gunbattle with security forces at Qaimoh in Kulgam on Monday.
The killing sparked widespread protests by locals who demanded handing over of their bodies to them.
Apprehending trouble during the funeral procession, the authorities deployed adequate police and paramilitary forces and promulgated prohibitory orders.
Violence erupted on Tuesday when hundreds of people defied the ban after the body of Bhat, who had joined the rank of militants only last December, was taken for burial at Redwani, 80 kms from here, the sources said.
After Bhat’s body was buried in a local graveyard, the people started marching towards nearby Rampur village to take part in the funeral of the other militant. But they were stopped by security forces, spawning violent clashes which left at least 21, including 10 CRPF jawans and a policeman, injured, the sources said.
Amid hurling of bricks by protesters, a security jawan opened fire in self-defence causing bullet injuries to four persons, they said.
