SP among 40 hurt in Srinagar clashes

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 2

Nearly 40 persons, including a Superintendent of Police, were injured in clashes after the security forces launched a search operation in the Soura area on the outskirts of Srinagar today. Of the 40 persons injured, 36 are police and security forces personnel.

The police launched a search operation in the Anchar area of Soura early morning today as part of the crackdown on alleged protesters and stone-throwers during the unrest.

Residents protested the police action and, according to reports, attacked police and CRPF men with stones. The police resorted to teargas shelling and firing in which four civilians were injured. They were admitted to the nearby Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and their condition was said to be stable.

A police spokesman said that miscreants in large numbers threw stones on the security forces deployments resulting in grievous injuries to the Superintendent of Police, Hazratbal, and 35 other police and security forces personnel.

While dealing with the law and order situation, three civilians, who were part of the mob, also sustained injuries and have been hospitalised, the police said.

In another incident of clashes at Tarzoo in Baramulla district today, a Deputy SP was injured. The police said the miscreants, in order to disrupt normal life, indulged in stone-throwing on police parties. The Deputy SP, Sopore, was injured in the clashes and was shifted to Sub-District Hospital, Sopore. There were at least five other incidents of clashes between protesters and the security forces across the Valley on the 117th day of the unrest today.

The police fired in the air to disperse the protesters at Naire village of Pulwama district after a search operation were launched to nab those involved in the recent incidents of violence. Stone-throwing incidents were also reported from four places in the adjacent Shopian district.

Elsewhere, normal life continued to remain paralysed amid shutdown called by separatists and restrictions to maintain law and order in major towns of the Valley.

Private vehicles and auto-rickshaws were seen in greater numbers on the main roads of the city and other major towns across all 10 districts of Kashmir.

Shoppers were seen in the main markets after 5 pm, when the 14-hour relaxation period started as per the separatists’ protest calendar. Meanwhile, the separatists extended the shutdown from Friday (November 4) to November 10, with a march to all district headquarters in the Valley on Friday and ‘School Safety Day’ on Monday.