Thaindian News

Srinagar, Oct 5 (IANS) Seven people, including two policemen, were injured in clashes between protesters and police in the twin north Kashmir towns of Sopore and Baramulla Monday.
A protester, identified as Farooq Ahmad Wandroo, 23, was injured critically in Sopore town when police used batons and fired tear smoke canisters to disperse an irate mob that indulged in heavy stone pelting at the police.

“Farooq Ahmad Wandroo has been shifted to Srinagar for specialised treatment after he was injured in clashes with the police”, a senior police officer said here.

Some eye-witnesses, however, said Wandroo had received a head injury after a tear smoke shell hit him during the protests.

In adjoining Baramulla town, where a teenager, Irfan Ahmad Lone, was killed Friday after being hit on the head by a tear gas shell, protesters continued to clash with the police.

“Six persons, including two policemen, sustained minor injuries in today’s (Monday) clashes in Baramulla town where the situation was gradually showing signs of improvement even though tension continued in the old town areas there,” police here said.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad has told media that the deployed policemen in Baramulla have been exercising “great restraint while tackling the unruly mob in the town”.

The state government has already ordered a magisterial probe into the circumstances that led to the death of Lone.

Hardline separatist leader and chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat group, Syed Ali Geelani, who continues to remain under house arrest here, had called for afternoon protests against the Baramulla incident throughout the Valley Monday.