By IANS,
Srinagar : A 25-year-old succumbed to his injuries here Thursday, three days after being hit by a tearsmoke shell, triggering fresh protests in Srinagar amid continuing security restrictions in the old city areas.
Nisar Ahmed Bhat had been battling for life in the Soura medical institute here after sustaining a serious head injury Monday evening. He had been hit by a tearsmoke shell during violent protests in the Barzalla locality of Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.
His body was handed over to his relatives by police in the morning.
As news of his death spread, hundreds of people came out on the Srinagar airport road at Barzalla, Rambagh and Hyderpora and started throwing stones at security forces. They also targeted some passing vehicles uptown.
Police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) responded by firing warning shots and repeated teargassing and baton charges.
High tension has gripped the uptown localities.
Hundreds of people also tried to march towards the Hyderpora residence of hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Geelani, who was released hours after his arrest by police Wednesday. However, police chased them away.
The valley wide protests which began Monday were triggered by the alleged rape and murder of two women by the security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian town last Saturday.
Police stopped a delegation of the Kashmir Bar Association from visiting Shopian this morning. Mobs pelted stones at police in the Soura locality in the capital city and in north Kashmir’s Bandipore area in the morning.
Life continued to be crippled by a protest shutdown in Kashmir for the fourth consecutive day.
Shops, businesses, government offices, banks, educational institutions are shut in here and in other towns of the valley. Both private and public transport are off the roads.