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Twelve-year-old boy among six killed in Kashmir clashes
SRINAGAR, India, March 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A 12-year-old boy was among six
people killed in three separate gun battles between rebels and security
forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, the police and army said Friday.
Clashes have raged in the restive mountainous region since the deaths of
40 Indian troops in a suicide bombing last month provoked tit-for-tat air
strikes between India and Pakistan.
The boy was killed after militants were trapped in his home in the
northern town of Hajin and engaged in a two-day gun battle ending Friday,
police told AFP. His father escaped.
Police later claimed the boy was “kept hostage” by the rebels.
“Despite repeated requests by community members and police for his
release, he was brutally killed by the terrorists,” a police statement said,
referring to the two killed rebels identified as Pakistani nationals.
Two more militants were “eliminated” late Thursday in the frontier
district of Baramulla, Kalia added, while one soldier and two policemen were
injured.
Another militant died in a clash with soldiers in the south of the Kashmir
valley, army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.
At least a dozen villagers were wounded when government forces clashed
with protestors near the site of the fighting, firing metal pellets and live
bullets to push them back. Three of the villagers were taken to hospital in
Srinagar and were in critical condition, a local police officer and hospital
sources said.
Entire neighbourhoods in Kashmir often march towards sites of gun battles
between rebels and government forces, attempting to rescue militants.
Scores of civilians have died during such clashes.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British colonial
rule ended in 1947. Both claim it in full and have fought two wars over the
territory.
India has about 500,000 soldiers in the part it controls, where armed
groups are fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Last month’s suicide blast was claimed by a militant group based in
Pakistan, and New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of backing a 30-year
insurgency that has left tens of thousands of people dead, mostly civilians.
The death in police custody Tuesday of teacher Rizwan Asad Pandit — one
of around 1,000 people detained in recent weeks — has further enraged
locals.
Pandit’s family claimed the young man was tortured, saying his bones and
even his spine were broken and that his body bore cuts and clear signs of
torture.
An investigation is ongoing, but police have registered a case alleging he
attempted to escape from custody, prompting angry demonstrations across
Kashmir in recent days.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1742 hrs