2 killed as security forces open fire in Kashmir

Two persons were on Friday killed and 10 others injured as security forces allegedly opened fire to keep stone-pelting protesters from interfering in an ongoing encounter with three holed up Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in Anantnag district of south Kashmir. Also, clashes rocked various parts of the Valley including Srinagar after Friday prayers even as the police detained JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik.

Ahsan Mushtaq (15) and Mohammad Ashraf Khar (34) were killed after being hit by bullets near the site of an ongoing encounter between militants and security forces at Arwani village in Anantnag district of south Kashmir, a police official said.

He said it was not immediately clear whether the duo were part of the stone-pelting protesters who tried to disrupt the anti-militancy operation in the village. Ten other people were injured, mostly by pellets, he said. Officials said clashes also broke out between protesters and security forces at nearly a dozen places in the Valley, including Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar, Tral, Pampore, Pulwama town and Anantnag in south Kashmir, Hajin in Bandipora and Sopore in Baramulla in north Kashmir.