Violence in Sopore as two killed in CRPF firing

SRINAGAR - Two youth were killed in Sopore town in North Kashmir Friday evening as security personnel, returning from a gunfight, opened fire when an angry mob attacked their vehicle and set it ablaze, police said. Widespread violence followed and the authorities imposed an indefinite curfew.

“An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Sopore town to maintain law and order there,” a senior police officer said here.

According to a police officer, a highly-agitated mob attacked and torched a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) vehicle in Sopore town.

The troopers were returning from the Krankshivan area of the town where two guerrillas of Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) were killed and two security men injured in a gunfight. Earlier reports had said the guerrillas belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Locals in Sopore alleged one of the slain terrorists was a civilian and not a separatist guerrilla.

“After their vehicle was attacked and torched, the CRPF jawans fired in self-defence injuring seven people, two of whom later succumbed to injuries,” the police officer said.

The two youth killed have been identified as Shakeel Ahmad Ganai, 17, son of Abdul Aziz Ganai of Lalad (Sopore) and Firdous Ahmad Kakroo, 16, son of Nazir Ahmad Kakroo of Krankshivan.

The injured were admitted to a hospital and later shifted to Srinagar for specialised treatment.

Widespread violence was reported in the town in the wake of this incident and additional CRPF and police were been sent to maintain law and order there.

Residents reached on phone said loudspeaker-fitted police vehicles were making announcements in Sopore town about the imposition of curfew there.

Sopore has been a hotbed of separatist violence since 1990s when the present separatist armed campaign started in Kashmir.