Five civilians were killed in an encounter site in Laroo village of Kulgam district of South Kashmir after a bomb went off today. The explosion occurred after the gun battle between the security forces and the militants ended.
The dead civilians have been identified as Ubaid Ahmad ,Irshad Ahmad , Tajamul Ahmad , Saqib Maqbool and 10-year-old Masroor Ahmad. Three militants were earlier gunned down by the security forces in the morning.
According to sources, people rushed to the encounter site soon after the news of the killing of militants spread. Clashes between the locals and the security forces soon erupted, resulting in injuries to over than a dozen people. Scores of injured were rushed to District Hospital, Anantnag and some have been referred to SMHS, Srinagar Hospital.
The J&K Police meanwhile issued a statement asking the people not to visit the encounter sites again.
"Civilians visited encounter site immediately after operation inspite of request not to visit as thorough search wason for explosives.They didn't listened and thus visited the spot. Some explosive substance went off resulting in injuries ," the J&K Police's twitter handle said.
The Advisor to the J&K Governor, Satya Pal Malik and the Director General, Police, Dilbagh Singh also expressed regret over the loss of civilian lives in the encounter.
A conglomerate of the separatist leaders, Joint Resistance Leaguehas called for a complete valley-wide shutdown on Monday and street protests on Tuesday.
Senior Separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq while condemning the loss of civilian casualties tweeted, "To strongly condemn &protest the mayhem unleashed in Kulgam by the ruthless Indian state in which so far 5 civilians & 3 armed youth killed besides injuries to tens of scores of injured,JRL calls for complete #Shutdown tomorrow,JRL will hold a #ProtestSitin on Tuesday at LaLchowk."
