An anti-militancy operation sparked intense clashes in Palhalan village of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district that left at least four people, including a police officer, injured.
A heavy contingent of the Army, CRPF and Special Operations Group of the J&K Police launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in Tantaraypora, Palhalan, some 30 km from Srinagar, in the wee hours following a tip-off about the presence of a local militant in the area.
A police spokesman in Srinagar said while the cordon was being established and civilians being evacuated from the area, the militant fired indiscriminately and managed to escape taking advantage of darkness.
Sources, however, said a brief gunfight erupted between the militant and the forces in the village when the suspected house where he was hiding was cordoned.
“The militant, however, managed to escape from the initial gunfight,” sources said.
As the combing operation was underway in the area to locate the militant, scores of people from the village tried to take out a march to disrupt it.
Clashes broke in the area and police fired tear-smoke shells and pellets to disperse the protesters, who resorted to stone-throwing. The clashes continued for hours.
A 35-year-old youth, identified as Abdul Rashid, received pellet injury in his right eye and right hand. He was shifted to a Srinagar hospital. There were reports of more protesters getting injured.
“In the clashes, a Sub-Inspector of the Pattan police station was hit by a stone and was taken to the Army hospital at Hyder Beigh,” a police officer said. The mobile Internet, which was suspended in Baramulla district in the wee hours after the CASO was launched, was restored in the evening.
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