Thousands of residents on Wednesday marched along the streets in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipore area, about 50 km north of here, carrying the body of a local youth allegedly killed by the Army overnight. They were chanting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans and blamed troops for what they claimed was the cold-blooded murder of the youth who was “seized from a local mosque and then shot dead”.
However, a defence spokesperson in Srinagar said that the youth was killed in exchange of fire between troops and militants and that one AK-47 rifle with ammunition was found lying at the scene of the brief encounter. Reports from Bandipore said that 4,000 to 5,000 people carrying the body of 25-year-old Hilal Ahmed Dar made repeated attempts to enter the district headquarters but security forces swung bamboo sticks and fired in the air to stop them.
The angry crowds hurled stones and other missiles on policemen and the clashes continued till reports last came in. About a dozen protesters and eight policemen, including the Bandipore station house officer, were injured, reports said.
The protesters were alleging that the Army troops took with them Hilal, who worked for a cement factory in Srinagar and had come home six days ago for Ramzan, from the local mosque in Bandipore’s Aloosa village and then shot him dead at a distance.
The slain youth’s father, Ghulam Mohiu-ddin Dar, said he was not involved in militancy at all. A defence spokesperson here said that following receiving information about the movement of two to three militants in the general area Aloosa-Halmatpura, a surveillance-cum-ambush was launched in the area Ashtingoo Nar on Tuesday night.
“On being challenged, the ambush party of 27 Rashtriya Rifles was fired upon. A brief firefight ensued,” the spokesperson said, adding that later during the search of the site, one body and one AK-47 with ammunition were recovered.
The body was later identified that of Hilal Ahmed Dar, a resident of Aloosa, Bandipore. “The body and the recovered arms and ammunition have been handed over to the police,” the spokesperson said.