By AIP Bureau,
Srinagar: Police open teargas shells and used batons to disperse slogan-shouting villagers protesting the death of a local youth in a gun battle with security forces in Baramulla district of north Kashmir on Saturday.
The protestors claimed that Ghulam Ahmad Kumar was not a militant and was picked up by security forces prior to the gun battle in the Rafiabad belt yesterday, a charge denied by the police.
Six militants and two security personnel were killed in the gun battle yesterday.
After Ghulam’s body was handed over to his relatives, several thousand residents of Takia and Tragpora villages, 65 kms from here, took to streets demanding a probe into the killing, officials said.
Police burst teargas shells and used batons to disperse the protestors who blocked the main Baramulla-Kupwara road.
Denying the allegation leveled by villagers, a police spokesman said, “the deceased was a militant and was killed in a gun battle along with five other suspected Pakistani militants.
“The slain militants have been identified through wireless intercepts as Furqan Bhai, Zubair Bhai, Saad Bhai, Abdullah Bhai, Abu Ubaid and Abu Sayed,” he said.
He said the recoveries from the slain militants include six AK assault rifles, 20 magazines, 521 rounds, four pistols, five magazines, 68 rounds, an Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) with 14 grenades, seven high explosive hand grenades and two Chinese grenades.