3 civilians killed in Army firing in Kulgam

Srinagar: A little girl and two budding youth were killed when army soldiers opened fire on people in Hawoora Redwani area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam locality. The brother of one of the slain youth is battling for life in a Srinagar hospital.
Army soldiers from 1st Rashtriya Rifles according to eyewitnesses appeared in Redwani on Saturday morning. Some of the youth pelted stones on them and accordingly one group of soldiers entered into Mukhdam Mohalla and another entered into High School Hawoora.
“This is a volatile area where youth frequently target men in uniform. On Saturday morning, group of youth pelted couple of stones on the soldiers from Frisal and Sunnigam Camps. We had never imagined these soldiers will gun down two budding youth and a little girl,” said an elderly person.
Abdul Rashid, Headmaster Government High School Hawoora said that all the teachers were busy in their respective classes when soldiers knocked at the school gate. “When we didn’t open it, they jumped from wall and entered into classes. They picked up a class 9th student Nadim Ahmed Dar son of Mushtaq Ahmed Dar and dragged him out from the class. Since Nadim is an intelligent student of the school, a couple of teachers including Science teacher Shabir Ahmed and Zahoor Ahmed resisted army action and in reply they were thrashed by soldiers. We followed army soldiers and tried to save our student from their clutches, but they resorted to indiscriminate firing. We were left with no option but to retreat,” the Headmaster said adding that the little student is still in army custody.
The locals said that another group of army soldiers emerged in Mukhdham Mohalla and fired directly upon the people. “Their action killed three and injured many,” said a local.
The deceased were identified as Shakir Ahmad Khanday (22) son of Muhammad Hussain Khanday, Irshad Ahmad (20) son of Abdul Majeed and Andleeb Jan (16) daughter of Ali Muhammad. Andleed Jan was the daughter of village headman.
Locals said that Zahid Ahmed the brother of slain Shakir Ahmed tried to pick up his brothers body, but army soldiers dragged him and fired volley of bullets in his legs. He was shifted to Bones and Joint Hospital Barzulla where his condition is stated to be critical.
The killings sparked massive protest in the area. Thousands of people from Hawoora Redni, Sunnigam, Frisal, Mishipora and other villages participated in the last rites of the slain budding civilians. Four back to back funeral prayers were offered in their favour. A couple of armed militants emerged in the graveyard and offered gun salute in honour of the slain civilians.
Army on Saturday evening issued a statement with regard to these killings.
“An Area Domination Patrol ( ADP) of Army while moving in general area Hawoora, Kulgam came under heavy stone pelting. As the ADP tried to extricate, they were chased by an aggressive and menacing crowd of 400-500 persons which kept building up and coming dangerously close. Troops while exercising extreme restraint, cautioned the stone pelters, who, however, failed to relent and repeatedly threw petrol bombs and stones at the patrolling party. At one point of time some unidentified terrorists also fired on the column. This resulted in some soldiers receiving grievous injuries. In response to this grave provocation and to ensure security of own troops, controlled firing was resorted to by the Army which resulted in unfortunate loss of human lives. The matter is being investigated to ascertain facts on ground,” said Srinagar based Defense spokesperson in a statement.
Meanwhile, a police hand out said that: “an army patrol in District Kulgam while moving through Hawoora Mishipora area this afternoon was pelted by miscreants. Consequently army tried to disperse the miscreants and in the process five individuals sustained injuries. The injured persons were evacuated to nearby hospital. However, later three persons succumbed to the injuries including a girl while the other two individuals are stated to be stable. Police has started investigation into the matter.”