Firing outside Army camp in J&K's Rajouri, 2 civilians killed

Rajouri/Jammu: Two civilians were killed and another was injured in firing outside an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Friday, leading to massive protests and demands for a fair probe.

While the army said in a tweet that some "unidentified terrorists" had started firing at the camp, eyewitnesses claimed a sentry posted at the gate opened fire at approaching locals, resulting in the casualties.

However, a senior army officer later termed the incident "very unfortunate" and assured action against those involved in it.

"FIR has been registered with regard to the early morning incident. We assure a fair probe in a professional manner. Police were the first to reach the scene after the firing and they shifted the injured to a hospital," Deputy Inspector General of Police Haseeb Mughal told.

Rajouri residents Kamal Kumar and Surindar Kumar, both in their late 30s, were killed and Anil Kumar from Uttarakhand was injured, police said.

Following the incident, locals, carrying their bodies, blocked the Jammu-Poonch national highway for nearly seven hours and demanded a probe into the matter and adequate compensation to the families of the victims.

They relented only after senior administration, army and police officials assured them of action, including registration of FIR.

The bodies were taken to the Rajouri Government Medical College for postmortem and other legal formalities, Mughal said.

Police said the firing took place around 6.15 am when a group of people, who worked as porters, were approaching the 'alpha' gate of the camp, located along the highway and about 150 kms from Jammu.

Though the army claimed that "unidentified terrorists" started firing at the camp and in retaliatory fire, the two people were killed, eyewitnesses, denied it and alleged unprovoked firing by the sentry.