Boy dies in Kashmir, toll rises to 60

SRINAGAR - An eight-year-old boy, hit by a stray bullet during clashes between security forces and protesters, died here Thursday, taking the toll in the Kashmir Valley unrest since June 11 to 60.

Milat Ahmad Dar was injured Saturday in Harnagh village of Anantnag district. He was playing with his friends when a bullet fired some distance away hit him.

“The boy was not part of any mob. He had come to his mother’s ancestral village from Wanpora village in Kulgam district when destiny cut short his life,” said a sobbing villager who did not wanted to be named.

“The bullet was fired somewhere else and it claimed an innocent life somewhere else. This is the tragedy of the Kashmiri people,” the man said.

Reports said a car and a van belonging to the security forces were attacked by a mob in Harnagh village Saturday when security forces fired in the air to disperse protesting against the firing.

As news of the boy’s death spread in south Kashmir, tension gripped the area. The authorities imposed curfew in Koimoh and Anantnag towns.

Authorities have also imposed curfew in Srinagar and north Kashmir’s Sopore town while strict restrictions are in place in Baramulla, Handwara, Kupwara and Pulwama towns of the valley.

Yet another shutdown called Thursday by the separatist Hurriyat group headed by Syed Ali Geelani paralyzed life in the valley. Shops, businesses, educational institutions, banks and post offices were shut while public transport went off the roads in all major towns.

The valley has been reeling under an unprecedented spell of unrest since June 11 leaving 60 people dead so far.