Srinagar tense after CRPF car hits three youth

Srinagar: Tension has gripped central Srinagar after three local youth were injured, two of them critically, after they were hit by a vehicle of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) during a stone-pelting incident in City’s Nowhatta area on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, four CRPF jawans, a J&K policeman and a civilian were injured in a grenade attack carried out by suspected militants in Khanabal area of southern Anantnag district on Friday.

The witnesses said that clashes between stone-pelting mobs and the security forces erupted at Nowhatta soon after Friday congregation was held at nearby Grand Mosque. Groups of youth, many of them wearing bandanas or three-hole balaclavas to hinder recognition while chanting “we want freedom” took out a protest but when confronted by the security forces they started hurling rocks at them. The security forces fired teargas canisters into the violent mob, the witnesses said. Some of the masked youth were carrying Pakistan’s national flag and also Lashkar-e-Tayyaba flag while chanting “anti national” slogans, a police official said.

 While the clash was on, a CRPF Gypsy ran over three youth, injuring them, the witnesses said. They were rushed to nearby Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital where from the critical have been shifted to Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS). The doctors said that one of them, identified as Muhammad Younis, is being treated for polytrauma. “He is very critical and has been intubated,” said a hospital official.  He added that the condition of the other youth too is “critical”. The third injured youth is out of danger, reports said.

On last Friday also, the area had witnessed intense clashes and stone-pelting incident resulting into injuries scores of people and about ten police and CRPF jawans.

A report from Anantnag said that suspected militants hurled a grenade at a joint party of J&K police and CRPF’s 140th Battalion at Khanabal suburb, injuring four CRPF jawans, a policeman and a civilian.

The injured CRPF jawans have been identified as Ravinder Singh of Uttarakhand, Muham-mad Siraj and Veer Singh of Uttar Pradesh and Vinod Kumar. The injured J&K constable is Abdul Majeed of Larkipora, Anantnag and the civilian Abdul Rashid of Tral (Pulwama district).