Youth shot allgedly dead by BSF in Srinagar's Batamalloo

Srinagar: A youth was killed when security forces -allegedly Border Security Force (BSF)-opened fire in Srinagar’s Batamalloo area on Saturday evening. A report said that another person was injured in the shooting but the authorities are yet to confirm it.

The witnesses said that two BSF vehicles were passing through SD Colony of the Srinagar suburb when someone hurled a stone at it which apparently prompted the men on board to open fire. A youth identified as Sajjad Hussain Sheikh alias Waza, a resident of Chandoosa, Tangmarg in Baramulla district, who lived in the area as a tenant was hit in the head and died instantly, they said.

The J&K police officials said that they are verifying the circumstances in which the BSF opened fire. “There was no deployment (of a security force) in the area. We’re told it was the BSF. We’re trying to verify it and to know as to why it opened fire,” said a senior police official.

He added that whichever the uniformed force it was it had taken a route which is usually not permitted for the security forces.

A statement issued by the zonal police headquarters here added, “The police is collecting the details and is looking into the circumstances under which a person identified as Sajjad Hussain Sheikh of Chandoosa Baramulla at present SD Colony Srinagar got killed. The District Police administration Srinagar has informed that there was no deployment in the area. The matter is being investigated”.

Following the incidents, clashes have erupted in some parts of Srinagar and the police has used teargas to disperse the surging crowds in Batamallo and some neighbourhood areas.

Earlier during the day, over fifty students were injured in clashes with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern town of Pulwama on Saturday.