Stone-pelting mob attacks army convoy in Srinagar

SRINAGAR - A stone pelting mob damaged two army vehicles in uptown Rawalpora area of Srinagar Wednesday afternoon, injuring four soldiers, during a protest against the death of a 13-year-old boy three days ago.

A police officer said that young men rained stones at the army vehicles on the highway, five kilometres from city centre Lal Chowk.

Four jawans sustained minor injuries while two vehicles were damaged. The troops exercised absolute restraint. The mob was later chased away, the officer said.

Protests continued here on the third successive day Wednesday over the death of school boy Wamiq Farooq, who was hit by a tear smoke shell on the head Sunday and died in hospital.

The relatives of the boy said he was not part of the stone pelting mob but had been hit by the shell fired by the police.

The boy’s classmates said they were playing cricket in a field, and Wamiq had gone to the lane to collect the ball when he was hit.

Although the authorities suspended an assistant sub-inspector and ordered an enquiry to fix responsibility and punish the guilty, protests erupted immediately after the boy’s death and are continuing in most areas in the Old City and some uptown areas of Srinagar.

Simultaneous protests also broke out in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and Shopian towns and in Baramulla in north Kashmir.

So far nearly 100 people, including policemen and protesters, have been injured in the protests.

The authorities have given orders to security forces to exercise utomost restraint while handling the protests.

Life in Srinagar remained paralyzed for the second day Wednesday.

Although separatist groups had called for a day’s shutdown here Tuesday, some masked youths told the media that the protests and shutdown would continue till Thursday when the fourth day’s funeral prayers of the boy would be offered.