Srinagar, Oct 26 (IANS) Curfew was imposed Sunday afternoon in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town after a 24-year-old youth was killed and three people were injured when security forces opened fire at a mob. Seventeen others were wounded during day-long clashes, an official said.
Trouble erupted in the town, 54 km from here, Sunday morning after hundreds of youths took out a procession demanding release of a few detained by the police last week during anti-India protests.
“The protesting mobs indulged in stone pelting on the police and the CRPF (central reserve police force). We responded by tear (gas) smoke and lathi charge,” a police official told IANS.
As the mob swelled and pelting of stones at the police and CRPF personnel intensified, warning shots were fired, the police said.
The CRPF troopers fired into the mob later, killing Irfan Amin Akhoon, a 24-year-old student, on the spot and wounding three protesters.
The news of Irfan’s killing spread like a wild fire in the town and mobs took to streets in other localities, pelting stones at the police.
As the situation deteriorated in the afternoon, the district administration decided to impose curfew in the town and deployed additional units of the CRPF and the police.
The body of Irfan was handed over to relatives for burial.
The situation in the curfew-bound town was calm but highly tense.
The police said 17 more people were injured in the day-long clashes.
Sunday’s violence came as the mainstream political parties are finalising the list of candidates for the state assembly polls scheduled to begin in November.
The state government is at present engaged in finalising poll related arrangements for the first phase of the seven-phase poll that begins November 17.