Kashmir boils as another youth dies in clash

Amid shutdown and restrictions, a youth was killed after being hit by a teargas shell fired by forces in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district during protests on Wednesday. The incident takes the death toll to four in less than 24 hours.

Witnesses said that Jahangir Ahmad Wani, son of Ghulam Din, resident of Drugmulla, Kupwara, died after being hit by a shell in the head.

Kupwara district and parts of the Valley have witnessed a number of clashes since Tuesday afternoon over the molestation bid and killing of two youths and a woman in army firing on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Army shot dead Muhammad Iqbal and Nayeem Bhat, while several others were injured in north Kashmir’s Handwara town after protests erupted over “molestation” of a schoolgirl by a soldier there. A woman Raja Begum, 54, who was injured in the clash succumbed to her injuries at SKIMS hospital in Srinagar on Wednesday morning.

The killings set off violent protests prompting authorities to impose curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar, Handwara and other volatiles areas of north Kashmir on Wednesday to thwart any protest demonstrations against the killings.
The call for shutdown was issued by both factions of Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

In old city Srinagar, hundreds of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel were deployed in strength to prevent people from staging protests. Normal life came to a halt in uptown areas of the city.