At least 25 people were injured, four of due to “bullets” as government forces resorted to live ammunition and pellets firing use to disperse large number of protesters near Beighpora area of Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday.Authorities also snapped mobile telephone services of private operators and mobile internet services across the Kashmir Valley. Reports and official sources told GNS that a large number of people took to streets and staged protests as soon as news about Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo getting trapped in the cordon laid by police, army and CRPF spread.As the day progressed, many more people from adjoining villages also reached the Beighpora and slogans and started pelting stones at the deployments of police and paramilitary CRPF in the fringes of the cordon, they said.
The government forces resorted to live ammunition besides used pellets to disperse the protesters who dispersed and regrouped again and again, they said. Many people were injured in the clashes and 25 of them were shifted to Pulwama hospital and other health facilities in the southern Kashmir district. Medical superintendent of District Hospital Pulwama Dr Mir Mushtaq told GNS that 16 injured were received at the hospital. “Four of them had bullet wounds while remaining pellet injuries,” he said, adding, “All of them were shifted to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital for specialized treatment.” Medical Superintendent SMHS hospital Dr Nazir Choudhary also confirmed to GNS that 16 persons, four of them having bullet and other pellet wounds, were received and admitted to the hospital.Nine more people have been admitted to nearby hospitals or were discharged after treatment, they added. Some police and paramilitary forces also suffered injuries in the clashes but exact number was not revealed by the official sources. (GNS)