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SRINAGAR: In a fresh wave of violence in Kashmir, five persons including an Army captain, a Hizb ul-Mujahideen commander and a student were killed on Saturday. In north Kashmir, people took to the streets and attacked a police station protesting against the killing of the schoolboy.

One person was killed and 10 others were injured in a grenade attack around noon at Budshah Chowk just outside the Dashnami Akhara, housing the holy mace of Amarnath, in the heart of Srinagar. The militants hurled the grenade at a CRPF picket but it exploded on a road. Srinagar police chief S.A. Mujtaba said it was not an attack on the Akhara building but "a routine incident targeting security forces."

At Palhalan village on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway, militants opened fire on the cavalcade of a Border Security Force DIG. A schoolboy was killed and a woman injured in an exchange of fire that followed, the police said. However, the locals alleged that the security forces opened fire on civilians after the militant attack.

As news spread, thousands of people in the Palhalan and Pattan area blocked the highway. Demanding action against the security forces, they set a police station afire. The police resorted to a lathicharge and burst teargas shells to disperse the mob.

Baseer Khan, Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, told The Hindu that the station was partially damaged. "We have ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident."

In a gunbattle at Mirbagh in Pulwama, Hizb "district commander" Mujahideen Nissar Ahmed Sofi alias Tarabi and his deputy Sarfraz Ahmad alias Safi were killed.

Police sources said the area was cordoned off on information that militants were hiding in some houses. In the encounter that followed Captain S.B. Singh also died and a jawan was injured.

The gunbattle left many houses damaged.

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