Fired in desperate situation: Army sources
BY MPOST BUREAU30 Jan 2018 11:43 PM IST
MPOST BUREAU30 Jan 2018 11:43 PM IST
NEW DELHI: Army sources on Tuesday said that its soldiers, charged with murder over the death of two civilians in firing on protesters at a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian, "opened fire in a desperate situation". A crowd of protesters injured a soldier with stones and "threatened to burn" him, the Army sources said amid a massive political row between the state's ruling PDP and its ally BJP.
A Major and his unit have been charged in an FIR filed by the state police after the death of Javaid Ahmad Bhat, 20, and Suhail Javid Lone, 24. The Major, the sources said, was not even present at the spot where 10 soldiers were trapped by over 200 stone-throwing protesters. "It is impossible in a situation like this to raise questions on why the two people killed were apparently shot in the head. In a situation like this, you fire where you can, ideally below the waist. But if a person gets a bullet to the head, he may have been bending down," the sources said.
Around 30 army trucks were heading to administrative duty when a few got separated and were trapped by protesters who hurled stones at them.
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