A man was killed after army opened fire on protesters seeking bodies of two militants who attacked an army camp in Chowkibal area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Three other persons were reported injured.
According to local witnesses, the people of Panzgam – where Fidayeen attackers stormed an army camp and killed two officers and one jawan – assembled outside the same army camp which had come under attack. They said the people were standing peacefully and were demanding bodies of the slain duo.
“However the army soldiers without any provocation resorted to firing on civilian protesters and one of the civilians identified as Muhammad Yusuf, 55, died on the spot. He was hit in the neck with a bullet,” the local witnesses said. Soon after the killing of civilian, the protests which broke out in morning in Panzga, Chowkibal and adjoining villages intensified.
Soon after the attack in the morning, locals of the Chowkibal and its adjoining villages clashed with government forces. Police had to use dozens of teargas shells and also resort to aerial firing to disperse these protesters. The protesters were demanding bodies of the two Fidayeen attackers for burial.