Three killed, seven injured, tragedy averted in J and K

Srinagar, 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.

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

Elsewhere in the Jammu and Kashmir, militants shot dead one person while security forces averted a major incident when they recovered a live grenade from a crowded passenger bus.

Official sources said 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 Bandipora, 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 security personnel took position behind the walls.

Police fired teargas shells and also resorted to a baton charge to disperse demonstrators, protesting against the killing of two persons at Sopore.

Official sources said hundreds of people, carrying the body of one of the persons, allegedly killed in security force firing after the militant attack, staged a massive demonstration near an army camp set up in Ganjoo house.

However, when police personnel intervened, the demonstrators pelted stones on security and police personnel, sources said.

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