A civilian was killed and others wounded when the Army allegedly opened fire on protestors in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama on Friday, the Greater Kashmir reported. Three other civilians sustained injuries during the incident.
Viqas Ahmad Rather, 24, was declared “brought dead” at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar. A report in Hindustan Times, however, identified him as a teenager. A girl also sustained bullet injuries during the clash, the newspaper quoted an unidentified official as saying.
Reports said the clash broke out after Army personnel “attempted to vandalise a property” owned by suspected militant Saju Mir. Superintendent of Police Mohammad Aslam, however, said the Army told them that the incident was a result of a reaction to the protestors pelting stones at Army vehicles.
Army spokesperson Rajesh Kalia claimed that a crowd started pelting stones at an army patrol after it asked a few vehicle owners or drivers to move cars that were blocking the road. The army personnel resorted to aerial firing when the mob which refused to obey their verbal order to disperse, Kalia said.
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