Four including two teenagers killed in Kashmir firing (Fourth Lead)

SRINAGAR - Four protesters, including two teenagers, were killed Monday in firing by security forces - the first fatalities after a week of relative peace - and more then 15 others injured during clashes in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

With these deaths, the toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley since June 11 has risen to 69.

An inquiry has been ordered and ammunition of the deployed security personnel will be checked to fix responsibility and action taken against those guilty, police announced Monday evening.

Police here said a huge mob of stone-pelting protesters blocked the Srinagar-Muzafarrabad highway at Palhalan village, 35 km from Srinagar.

“As the security forces intervened to clear the highway, the mob indulged in violence injuring many security men. After baton-charges and lobbing of tear smoke shells failed to bring the situation under control, the security men opened fire,” a senior police officer said.

Four protesters identified as Showkat Ahmad Bhat, 16, Muhammad Ramzan Mir, 35, Noor-ud-Din Tantray, 27, and Mudasir Ahmad Mir, 18, died in the firing

Fifteen other protesters injured in the incident have been admitted to hospitals in Srinagar for specialized treatment.

Doctors attending to the injured in the hospitals in Srinagar said some of them had sustained critical gunshot wounds and efforts were on to save their lives.

“Some of the injured have been brought in very critical condition,” an attending doctor said here.

Hundreds of locals came out of their homes in Palhalan and adjacent areas after hearing about the incident and additional deployments of police and paramilitary have been rushed to the area to maintain law and order there.

With Monday’s deaths, tension once again gripped the Valley where some modicum of normalcy had been witnessed during the last one week despite separatist-called protest shutdowns.

A police press release issued here Monday evening said: “Senior police officers have taken a serious view of the firing and an enquiry has been initiated. Ammunition of the policemen is being checked to fix the responsibility. Those found involved shall be proceeded against strictly according to law without any favour.”

Monday’s unfortunate incident happened on a day Muslims throughout the Valley were preparing to celebrate Shab-e-Qadr, the holiest night according to Muslim belief.

It has also come barely three days before the Eid festival which falls due around Sep 11 after the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting and penance observed by Muslims the world over.

Incidents of stone-pelting were also reported from south Kashmir’s Pampore and Awantipore towns and Bohri Kadal and S.D. Colony in Batamaloo area of Srinagar.