LeT leader, 2 civilians among 14 killed in Kashmir unrest

The Kashmir Valley saw a spate of violence on Friday as 14 people were killed in three separate incidents. Those killed include Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Junaid Matoo, two other militants, two civilians, eight policemen and one soldier.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), banning the assembly of four or more people, was imposed in south Kashmir's Kulgam and Anantang today, a day after (LeT) militants ambushed a police jeep and killed six policemen to avenge the killing of Mattoo by security forces on Friday.

Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in huge numbers on the roads around Srinagar.

A shutdown was called by the separatist leaders in the Valley to protest the killing of two civilians in an encounter on Friday in south Kulgam district.

Train services between Baramulla and Bannihal towns were suspended. Exams scheduled for Saturday were postponed by Kashmir University. Shops, public transport and educational institutions remained closed.

Bodies disfigured
On Friday, LeT militants ambushed a police jeep and killed six policemen, including a Station House Officer, and disfigured their bodies with bullets.

Police today recovered bodies of the three LeT militants killed in a joint operation by Army, J&K Police and the Central Reserve Police Force in Arwani village of Bijbehara in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mattoo was a resident of Redwani village and the other two slain militants were identified as Nasir Wani of Heff village in Shopian and Adil Mushtaq Mir of Frestbal Pampore. Mattoo was believed to be active for the past two years and carried a bounty of Rs10 lakh on his head.

"Acting on specific information, police along with 1 RR and 90 Bn CRPF launched an operation in Makro Mohalla of Arwani Bijbehara. During the operation, militants present in the area fired upon the search parties with automatic weapons. The fire was retaliated, and an encounter started," said a police spokesman.

Two civilians were also killed after forces opened fire to disperse protesters and stone-pelters trying to shield the militants and disturb the anti-militant operation. Police said that the civilians died in cross-fire.

"When the encounter was on an unruly mob instigated by the militants started pelting stones with an intention to disturb the operation and give chance to holed up militants to escape. Some of the militants also fired from within the crowd indiscriminately on the security forces engaged in the encounter," said the spokesman.