25 including 11 cops wounded in fresh Kashmir violence

SRINAGAR - At least 25 people including 11 security personnel were injured - two of them critically - as fresh violence flared up in Kashmir Tuesday, despite restrictions imposed to pre-empt protests over the arrest of a key separatist leader.

Clashes were reported from Baramulla town in north Kashmir, Shopian and Anantnag towns in south Kashmir and Nawab Bazaar area in Srinagar as protesters defied the restrictions and pelted stones at security personnel.

Curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns early Tuesday after Masarat Alam Bhat was arrested in Srinagar Monday evening. Bhat, a key aide of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, had masterminded the over four month long unrest that has so far claimed 110 lives and left hundreds wounded.

A senior police officer said angry youth indulged in heavy stone pelting on the motorcade of a senior police officer in Baramulla town, 54 km from here, Tuesday evening.

Protesters, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, defied curfew restrictions and hurled rocks and stones at the motorcade, prompting the security forces to fire at them.

Seven protesters were injured in the clash. They were taken to a local hospital where attending doctors referred two critically injured, Mohammad Yusuf Channa and Rauf Ahmad Bhat to Srinagar for specialised treatment.

The stone-pelting intensified later and more reinforcements were rushed to the area to restore order.

A police spokesman said 11 policemen including three senior police officers were injured in the heavy stone pelting.

Protesters also clashed with security forces in Shopian town in the afternoon. Mobs pelted stones at passing vehicles of the security forces, who opened fire leaving three people wounded. Four others were also injured in the clashes.

Meanwhile a complete shutdown was observed in Srinagar and other towns on a call given by Geelani as part of his weekly protest calendar.