Centre rushes 800 additional CRPF troops to Kashmir

New Delhi, July 11

Eight hundred additional central paramilitary forces personnel are being rushed to Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of continued violent protests across the Valley.

The reinforcements will be in addition to the 1,200 personnel sent to aid the state police on Saturday.

Official sources said eight companies (with 100 personnel each) of the CRPF are being sent in the wake of the ongoing protests.

About 60 battalions (about 1,000 personnel each) are already stationed in the state as part of counter-insurgency grid.

A police station in Sopore was torched by a mob on Monday while the Air Force airport in Pulwama and other security installations in Kashmir have also came under attack as ongoing clashes between protesters and security personnel continued following the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on Friday.

The violent protests have so far left 30 dead and over 250 injured. Normal life has been paralysed due to the curfew-like restrictions and separatists-sponsored strike since Saturday.

Restrictions on movement of people continued to be in place in many parts of the Valley, including parts of Srinagar city, where the first death in the clashes occurred on Sunday evening. PTI