Four more protesters shot dead
Thousands defy curfew, take to streets across IHK
* APHC leader calls for peaceful protests, urges youth not to indulge in stone-pelting, provocative sloganeering
SRINAGAR: Four people were killed on Tuesday as thousands of protesters ignored police warnings that they would be shot on sight if they defied a round-the-clock curfew declared in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) in an attempt to quell weeks of deadly civil unrest against the Indian rule.
More than 20 people were injured in clashes with government forces as they gathered and marched in Srinagar and two villages, a police officer said.
Two protesters were killed in Srinagar where government forces fired at hundreds who hurled rocks and shouted, Go India! Go back! and We want freedom.
The news of those casualties brought out more demonstrators, the officer said.
Another person was killed in the firing by government forces in southern village of Frisal where thousands of protesters set a police station on fire, the officer said. At least 15 people were injured, six critically.
Clashes also erupted in Zainakote, a village on the outskirts of Srinagar, where protesters hurled rocks at the troops, said the officer. Troops fired to disperse them, killing one and injuring at least two others.
Four people were injured, one of them critically, when paramilitary soldiers fired on protesters in the northern town of Baramulla, he said.
Meanwhile, a young Kashmiri Muslim died in a hospital in Srinagar on Tuesday, two days after he was injured in the southern town of Khrew in police firing, the officer said.
Hundreds also defied the curfew in the western town of Budgam and held a protest march. Government forces fired live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the protesters, injuring four people, the police officer said.
For the sake of martyrs, I appeal to the youth not to indulge in stone pelting and provocative slogans, said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a separatist leader in IHK. If we succeed in keeping protests peaceful, this would be the first step towards freedom. ap
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan