Sopore, June 25, KONS: Two more young Kashmiris were killed and 16 others injured, four of them critically, in Sopore on Friday as the CRPF opened indiscriminate fire on a mob reportedly setting their vehicle ablaze during violent protests against the death of two local militants in an overnight encounter.
The fresh killings added fuel to the fire in the already seething town, and thousands of people were in the streets with the victims’ bodies till late in the evening, holding protest demonstrations.
The chairman of the Hurriyat (M), Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, has called for a total bandh on Saturday against the killings and a Sopore march on Monday, an appeal endorsed by the Hurriyat (G).
The northern township had been on the boil since afternoon after an overnight encounter ended with the news of two local militants having been killed, sparking off widespread violent protests during which SOG and paramilitary motorcades were attacked with furious barrages of stones.
Violent protestors surged in large processions towards Krankshevan, but ran into heavy aerial firing by the forces, and a passing CRPF vehicle was caught in the brick-batting.
Reports said that the trapped CRPF vehicle was furiously attacked with stones, and its occupants tried to alight to save themselves, but the mobs set the Gypsy on fire, prompting the paramilitary men to open heavy fire.
As the numerous wounded fell to the ground, one Shakeel Ahmad Ganai, 15, of Laalad, died on the spot, and another civilian, Firdous Ahmad Kakroo of Ningli, breathed his last in the local hospital where the crowds had frantically rushed the gunshot victims.
Four of the injured, identified as Shaukat Ahmad of Hathi Shah, Manzoor Ahmad Dar of Ningli, Merajuddin of and Muhammad Aamir of Bahar, were shifted to Srinagar hospitals because of their critical condition.
As a wave of rage swept through the town at the fresh killings, mosque loudspeakers blared calls for people to take to the streets, and soon thousands of residents poured out to march to the main square.
Violent protestors stormed a paramilitary bunker in the Iqbal market and razed it to the ground in the face of aerial firing by its personnel.
Giving its account of the killings, the police said that the personnel of the CRPF Gypsy under attack by the mobs who had tried to set it ablaze had opened fire only in response to gunshots from masked men in the violent crowds.
Eyewitnesses however said that the CRPF had opened fire on a peaceful procession heading towards to the scene of the overnight encounter.
The Sopore town was in ferment after the killings, with clashes spreading to various parts, and people holding protests to demand an inquiry into the killings.
The police later took the victims’ bodies into custody and sent them to their native villages where they were laid to rest in the presence of thousands of people.
Reports received late in the evening said that one of the injured victims, Merajuddin Teli, who had been hit in the abdomen, had been operated upon at the SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, and another casualty, Hilal Ahmad Gojri of Awantahama, was being rushed to Srinagar because of gunshot wounds in the head.
