Thousands Protest After Soldiers Kill 3 Boys in Kashmir

[NooralHaya]

Thousands Protest After Soldiers Kill 3 Boys in Kashmir Source: Daily Times Pk

SRINAGAR: Thousands of people protested against the Indian army in troubled Kashmir on Sunday, a day after security forces shot dead three teenaged boys mistaking them for militants, police and witnesses said.

They said at least 5,000 people gathered near Kupwara town to grieve over the bodies of the dead boys and express their anger against the Indian army. “We want freedom ... Down with the security forces,” the protesters shouted as they carried the bodies of the victims on their shoulders to a local police station to protest.

Protesters poured into the streets of Bungergund, set fire to an army-run computer training center, and hurled bricks and stones at police, said Sunil Dutt, a local police superintendent.

One villager said the boys were attending a wedding Saturday in the remote hamlet when soldiers opened fire on them. Three died on the spot and another was wounded. Residents demanded that the soldiers be punished. “They (soldiers) knew that there was a marriage here. They didn’t bother to find out who they were and just killed them,” Fayaz Hamid, a villager, told The Associated Press by telephone.

The Indian army said Saturday night’s ambush for Muslim guerrillas in Kupwara district, south west of Srinagar had gone wrong and the three boys had been mistakenly shot dead. A fourth was wounded. “It is a regrettable incident,” army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel VK Batra told Reuters. “When the army’s ambush party challenged the four boys, they did not stop. Instead, they started running. The soldiers then opened fire.”

On Thursday, police used teargas to disperse hundreds of Muslims protesting the alleged killing of a teenager by Indian troops in south Kashmir. Authorities said the boy was killed in an exchange of fire between militants and soldiers. Indian authorities deny systematic violation of human rights in Kashmir and say they probe all such incidents and punish the guilty.

Meanwhile, in other violence, troops shot dead seven militants in three gunbattles late Saturday and Sunday while suspected militants shot dead two Muslims, one a former militant, police said.

[NooralHaya]

ameen thumma ameeeen