Three killed, seven injured in north Kashmir, protest by locals

Baramulla, Dec 22 (UNI) Two people were killed and seven others, including four security personnel, wounded in a firing incident in Sopore in this north Kashmir district this afternoon, official sources said.

Militants also shot dead one person in the district last night.

Al-Mansoorain militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Militants attacked an army convoy of 80 Mountain Brigade at the main chowk in Sopore at 1430 hrs, shortly after Friday prayers were over. The convoy was on way to Srinagar from Badipora, they said.

The security forces retaliated, and in the shootout, two persons Mohammad Ashraf and Shabir Ahmad Khan were killed.

Three other pedestrians, identified as Fayaz Ahmad, Mohammad Ashraf and Haji Mohammad Abdullah Kababi, were injured. The injured were admitted to hospitals.

An Army spokesman in Srinagar said four army personnel were also injured in the incident.

An eyewitnees said that people in the area, including the shopkeepers, ran for safety as security personnel took position.

Traffic was suspended for about two hours after the incident.

Later, hundreds of locals took to streets, protesting against the incident. Carrying the bodies of the civilians killed in the crossfire, the demonstrators marched through the streets, raising anti security force slogans. They alleged that after the militant attack on the convoy, security forces resorted to indiscriminate firing in the area. Business activities came to halt as the shopkeepers closed their establishments against the incident.

A called who identified himself as spokesman of the the Al- Mansoorain claimed the responsibility for the attack.

He further claimed that five soldiers were killed and ten others were wounded in the attack, carried out by the militants of the outfit who later reached to their hideout safely.

Militants shot at and wounded one Abdul Hamid Bhat at Ajas, Bandipora in this district last night. Bhat, a surrendered militant, was rushed to hospital where he died, the sources added.

UNI XC/BAS VD GC1843