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9 killed, 30 injured in Baramulla shootout
By Shujaat Bukhari
JAMMU, DEC. 8. Five civilians, a police constable and a soldier were killed and 30 injured, some of them seriously, when militants fired at an Army convoy in the north Kashmir town of Baramulla today. Two militants and the five civilians were killed in the retaliatory fire. The militants have been identified as Abu Qasim and Abu Jaffar of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Two AK rifles, eight magazines and six hand grenades were recovered from their possession.
Thousands of people took to the streets in protest against the firing. Police opened fire to disperse the processionists after resorting to a mild lathicharge and bursting of teargas shells.
Eyewitnesses told The Hindu over phone that at 11.30 a.m. the convoy was attacked by two militants, presumably belonging to the `fidayeen' (suicide squad) near Azad Gunj in Baramulla, when it was on its way to Srinagar from the border district of Kupwara. As the militants opened fire, one soldier was killed and seven were injured. In the gun- battle that followed, bullets hit many civilians in the nearby market.
According to reports, four civilians and a police constable died on the spot, while one civilian died of injuries in hospital. Three vehicles were damaged in the crossfire. The injured were taken to the district hospital and from there eight seriously injured were referred to Srinagar hospital.
The Armymen went berserk and fired upon whosoever came their way, said a resident of Baramulla over phone. Shopkeepers ran for their lives, he added. A report said troops barged into a police station and opened fire.
No senior police officer was available for details till late in the evening. But officials in Srinagar maintained that the civilians were killed in the exchange of fire between the militants and the security forces.
150 kg RDX seized
PTI reports:
Security forces recovered 150 kg of RDX from a militant hideout and arrested one person in this connection in Sopore town of Baramulla district last night, a BSF spokesperson said today. The RDX, kept in three gunny bags, each weighing 50 kg, was seized by the BSF from a hideout at Kalashpora-Wahibug in Sopore, 60 km from here, he said.
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