Many injured in fresh clashes across Kashmir Valley

Fresh clashes erupted across Kashmir in which dozens of people were injured  on Thursday with strike, curfew and restrictions crippling life for the 27th day in a row throughout the Valley.

Reports said more than two dozen people were injured when security forces fired teargas shells and pellets to quell the protesters at Sirigufwara village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Similarly, security forces used force to control the demonstration at Seer and Aishmuqam areas in the same district in which several people were injured. Clashes were also reported form Bongam and Bonbazar areas of Shopian district in south Kashmir in which several protesters were injured.

Reports said more than a dozen people, including five women, were injured during clashes with security forces in north Kashmir’s Chotipora village of Handwara. The forces fired pellets to disperse protesters who had blocked Handwara-Baramulla road.

One of the injured youths has been shifted to Srinagar while others are being treated at local hospitals, officials said. The police have



launched a massive crackdown against stone pelters and arrested nearly 500 suspects from across the Valley to control the street protests.

“In its drive against hooligans and miscreants, 349 accused  have been arrested in the Valley,” a police spokesman said and added 122 people have been detained under “prohibitory provisions of law.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of people offered afternoon prayers on roads at various places in the Valley in deference to a call by separatists to protest against the civilian killings. Normal life remained paralysed in Kashmir for the 27th consecutive day on Thursday.

Reminiscent of the 2008 and 2010 unrest, separatists have been issuing weekly protest calendars ever since Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed on July 8. People are told when to open or shut their shops and come out on the streets for demonstrations.

Over 50 civilians have died in the violent protests since then, while thousands of people, including security personnel, have been injured. The separatists have extended the shutdown call to August 5.