Fayaz Bukhari
— Excelsior/Amin War
SRINAGAR, Feb 25: Authorities imposed curfew like restrictions to restore order in Lolab where at least two dozen persons including photo-journalists and policemen were injured when a large group of protesters attacked a police station in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district where bodies of the seven Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants killed in an encounter last evening were kept.
The bodies of seven LeT militants killed last evening in a joint operation by Army and police were kept in police station Lalpora, Lolab in district Kupwara. Police was conducting the formalities including autopsy on the bodies of the dead militants when a large group of protesters laid siege around the police station Lalpora at around 10 am.
The protesters were demanding that dead bodies of the militants should be handed over to them as there were rumours that some of them were civilians. The protesters restored to heavy stone pelting forcing the Police to take shelter inside the building.
A local photo-journalist who was also caught in police station said that rocks were raining on the Police Station. He said that police fired hundreds of rounds of ammunition and fired dozens of tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.
The photo-journalist said that the protests continued till 12:30 pm. and when the bodies were handed over them they took them in a procession and buried them in a local graveyard.
At least 7 photo-journalists including Amin War and Abid Nabi of Daily Excelsior were injured in the stone pelting. War was hit by a stone in his head and was removed to hospital for treatment. The other lensmen who were injured are Mubashir Hussain Khan Firdous, Malik Nissar, Tajamul Islam Lone and Jehangir Ahmad. One of the CRPF officers were also injured in the stone pelting. He has been identified as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Taasho Sahu of 98 Battalion. A police officer who was injured has been identified as Assistant Sub-inspector Abdul Majeed.
One of the injured civilians has been referred to Srinagar for treatment.
Around two dozen police vehicles and two cars of lensmen bearing registration numbers DL4CMD 0725 (Sentro) and JK01N 6090 (Maruti) were also damaged in heavy stone pelting. The protesters also set ablaze two bunkers of the police station.
Authorities immediately imposed curfew like restrictions in the area to restore order.
Sources said that four militants have been identified as per the documents recovered from them. They are Abu Rehman, Abu Ushkara, Abu Sufiyan and Abdullah.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) Kilo Force Major General, S K Sunny told a news conference in Kupwara this afternoon that the killed militants belong to LeT.
The GOC said: “As far as the identity and the organization of the killed terrorists is concerned, the documents which have been recovered from them indicate that they were from LeT. However, a joint group of other militant organizations being part of this large group can’t be ruled out at this moment.”
Major General said that the operation is still going on, the searches of the area are being carried out, the troops are on the ground at the moment. He said that this was a resident militant group that has probably infiltrated early last season as this time infiltration is not possible as LoC is covered with snow.
“We believe that it was a large group and the operation is still going on as there are more militants in the area”, said the GOC.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police North Kashmir, J P Singh said: “This group has been eliminated, jointly by police and Army. The dead bodies have been handed over to the local Aquaf and none of them is local. We have taken up the photographs and they have been buried after we verified that none of them is a local. Case has been registered and investigations have been taken up.”
The separatist Hurriyat Conference leader, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq demanded impartial probe into the killing of seven militants in yesterdays encounter. The hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has called strike on Friday against what he said “mysterious encounter”.
Follow our WhatsApp channel