The third Friday of the holy month of Ramzan turned out to be the bloodiest day as an SHO among six policemen, two terrorists, including senior leT commander Junaid Mattoo, and two civilians died in separate incidents of violence across Kashmir Valley. Five policemen and over a dozen civilians were injured in the violent incidents as panic gripped the Valley over the massive bloodletting.
Police sources said that terrorists ambushed a police party, led by SHO Feroz Ahmad Dar, at Thajiwara village in south Kashmir’s Achabal area in Anantnag district on Friday evening. The police party was travelling in a non-bulletproof vehicle when terrorists ambushed them. The sudden attack left no room for the police party to retaliate before the attackers fled the scene.
“Six policemen, including Dar, later succumbed to their injuries on way to hospital,” sources said. lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is the second major attack against police in six weeks. On May 1, Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists killed five policemen, including a junior officer and two bank guards, in Kulgam district in an attempt to loot a cash van.
The ambush occurred at a time when a prolonged encounter between security forces and terrorists was underway in Arwani village of Bijbehara in the same district. A top-ranking leT commander, along-with his aide, is believed to have been killed in the encounter. Two civilians, including a teenage boy, were also killed in the shootout triggering a chain of protest demonstration across the Valley. In another incident, two car-borne persons were shot at and injured when Army allegedly opened fire on their vehicle at a checkpoint in north Kashmir’s Bandipora area.
The separatists have called for a shutdown on Saturday against the civilian killings. The Kashmir University postponed examinations scheduled for Saturday.
Sources said that a joint party of police, Army and paramilitary CRPF cordoned off Arwani village in south Kashmir in the wee hours of Friday following specific input on the presence of terrorists in a hideout. While the cordon was being tightened, an exchange of fire took place as terrorists attempted to break the cordon and flee the area.
The fierce gun-battle continued for several hours resulting into death of Junaid Mattoo, a senior leT commander, who was active in the area for the past two years. He was listed among the most-wanted terrorists in south Kashmir and had a bounty of Rs 10 lakh over his head. Another unidentified terrorist was also killed in the shootout.
Defence sources confirmed that Mattoo and his associate were killed in the encounter. They said that Mattoo was involved in a number of attacks on security forces and civilian targets in the area.
During the encounter, a large number of villagers gathered around the cordoned area, shouting slogans and throwing stones on the security personnel in a bid to run over the encounter site to help the hold-up terrorists escape. The security forces fired automatic weapons to chase away the protesters. A bullet reportedly hit a youngster Muhammad Ashraf Khar wounding him critically. He was immediately rushed to hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. later in the day, a 14-year boy Ahsan Dar was also hit with a bullet. He was immediately shifted to hospital at Qaimoh where he succumbed to injuries.
The deaths triggered massive protests in several parts of south Kashmir. Security forces used force to disperse protesters at highway town of Pampore where clashes erupted after the news spread about the killing of leT ultras.
The encounter area was under tight cordon till last reports came in from the area.
In another incident, Army personnel allegedly opened fire on a moving car at a check-point in Chak-Reshipora village of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. Sources said the Army was checking vehicles in the area and the car did not stop for checking. The injured civilians Muzaffar Jan and Farooq Haji were shifted to Srinagar for treatment. The incident triggered clashes in Bandipora, Sumbal and Hajin areas of north Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik called a daylong shutdown on Saturday against the civilian killings.
While Geelani and Mirwaiz have been put under house-arrest, Yasin Malik was taken into custody by the police ahead of the shutdown.
A policeman and a civilian were killed in two separate shootouts in Srinagar on Thursday evening while terrorist shot at and injured a woman in Katrasu village of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. A policeman Shabir Dar was killed by unknown assailants at his village Bogund in Kulgam district.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed deep anguish over the killing of two civilians and six policemen across Kashmir Valley during the past 24 hours.
Mehbooba said she has reiterated it time and again that violence and innocent killings would lead the State only to a cobweb bloodletting and destruction and uncertainty rather than paving the way for any peaceful solution.
Mehbooba said she has been warning of the dangerous consequences of violence time and again and appealed the civil society to rise to the occasion to make the future of J&K’s younger generation peaceful.
The authorities suspended train services between Banihal and Bandipora in view of the Arwani encounter and subsequent clashes in several south Kashmir pockets. The mobile internet services were suspended in most parts of the Valley.
A spokesman of Kashmir University said that in view of concerns expressed by students vis-a-vis transportation, all examinations scheduled for June 17, 2017 (Saturday) have been postponed. Most of the schools have also postponed unit tests that began this week.