12 killed, 70 injured in fresh violence in Kashmir

Kashmir was on the boil again as fresh violence claimed 12 lives and left 70 injured on Monday with mobs torching several government properties and a private school
.Five persons were killed and more than 20 others injured in alleged firing by security forces at Tangmarg, 45 km from here, in Baramulla district after protesters went on a rampage setting ablaze a private school following rumours of desecration of a holy book in the U.S., officials said.

The school is being run by a minority educational group.
The mob torched Block Development Office, court chamber, tehsildars official vehicle and residence, social welfare office, patwari office and two huts of tourism department, the officials said.
The agitators then attacked a police station and tried to ransack it, prompting the security forces to fire at them.
Nearly 20 persons were injured in the firing.
While two youths — Muddasir Ahmad Parray and Abdul Majid — were declared dead at the nearby Magam Sub District Hospital, another youth succumbed to injuries at a city hospital here. He has been identified as Abdul Qayoom, officials at the hospitals said.
Two injured youths, identified as Afaq Ahmad Khan and Tariq Ahmad Ganai, were declared dead on arrival at a city hospital.
TV channel banned
The Jammu and Kashmir government, meanwhile, banned an international news channel, Press TV, after it aired the report about alleged desecration of the holy book.
“The transmission of Press TV in Jammu and Kashmir has been banned with immediate effect,” State Chief Secretary S.S. Kapur told reporters here.
He said the move was prompted after reports of the alleged sacrilege act. Also the channel was not registered with the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry as required by law.

U.S. expresses dismay

In New Delhi, the U.S. Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer expressed dismay over the violence following reports of “a misguided individual desecrating the Quran“.
Two protesters were killed allegedly in security forces action at Humhama in Budgam district, where a group of people attacked a security forces camp.
Ghulam Rasool Tantary was critically injured and succumbed to injuries at a hospital, a police spokesman said.

Nine-year-old Dil Ahmad Lone also succumbed to injuries.
Residents of Charar-e-Sharief held peaceful protests in the central Kashmir Budgam town in the morning but a section of the crowd attacked a CRPF camp with stones, deputy Commissioner Budgam Rafi Ahmad said.
He said in the retaliatory firing by the CRPF personnel, seven persons were injured. “One of the injured, Danish Nabi, sucumbed to injuries before he could be taken to hospital,” the official said.
Two of the injured were referred to Srinagar hospital while four were undergoing treatment at Charar-e-Sharief hospital, the official said.
A woman identified as Rafiqa, wife of Abdul Gani Teli, died on the spot when she was hit by a stray bullet inside her residential compound at Ompora in Budgam.
In another incident, he said a large mob assembled outside police station Budgam and indulged in heavy stone-pelting.

Sources said more than 10 persons were injured as police fire warning shots and lobbed tear smoke shells to disperse the mob.
A policeman, Devender Singh, was also killed when he was run over by a vehicle while chasing a stone pelting mob in Budgam. This is the first time a policeman has been killed in the ongoing unrest.
One person was killed and two others were injured when security forces allegedly opened fire to quell a stone-pelting mob in Bandipora district, police spokesman said.
A large number of protesters had gathered at Ajas, 45 km from here, and started raising slogans, he said.
A section of crowd started pelting stones at security forces, who fired warning shots to disperse them. Three persons were injured in the incident, the spokesman said, adding one of them identified as Nissar Ahmad Bhat was declared brought dead at a Srinagar hospital.
A youth identified as Aijaz Ahmad Gojri was killed and 12 others were injured in clashes between security forces and protesters at Pampore town of Pulwama district, sources said.
Meanwhile, chairman of hardline Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani condemned the torching of the private school and appealed to the people to safeguard the property and life of the minorities in the Valley.
“Geelani strongly condemns the burning of a private school at Tangmarg. It is our religious duty to safeguard the property and life of the minorities,” party spokesman Ayaz Akbar said.