5 injured as stone pelters clash with cops

Five persons including three students and a policeman were injured in clashes between stone-pelting protestors and security forces at several places in the strike-hit Kashmir Valley on Wednesday.

Three students of a private school were injured when stones were pelted at a bus at Badamwari in Hawal area of downtown Srinagar late on Wednesday afternoon. The bus also suffered extensive damage, a police spokesman said. The police assisted by paramilitary forces immediately swung into action and chased away the stone-pelters after a brief clash, he added.

The spokesman said a policeman was injured when a group of youth pelted stones at a security party, deployed to facilitate smooth movement of school buses at Naid Kadal locality in Srinagar. At the nearby Gurpora locality of Rainawari, miscreants resorted to heavy stone pelting on security forces, leading to clashes during which police fired teargas shells and used batons to restore law and order, the spokesman said.

He said one person identified as Mohammad Umar Baghwan was injured in the incident. He was later shifted to Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital at Soura for treatment.

Groups of youth also indulged in stone pelting on security forces at Batmaloo, Tangpora, Bemina and Parimpora in Srinagar, leading to clashes between the two sides. However, none was hurt in these clashes, the spokesman said adding repeated attempts by protestors to block the Srinagar-Baramulla national highway were foiled by the security forces.

Stone-pelting incidents were also reported from Cement Bridge and Sangrama in Baramulla district of north Kashmir and Anantnag district town during the day, he added.