Srinagar, March 5
A youth was killed and another injured when Army soldiers allegedly opened fire in Baramulla district on the second day of shutdown against the death of a student in Hyderabad today.

Tahir Ahmad Sofi, a resident of old town of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, was shot several times. He later died at the district hospital, 55 km from Srinagar.

A senior doctor at the hospital said Sofi, in his early 20s, was shot in the head and chest and died on his arrival at the hospital. Another person, Mohammad Abbas, suffered a bullet injury in the foot, the doctor said.

“There are reports of a skirmish between the Army and civilians. They ransacked the area and opened fired. One person has been killed,” Baramulla Deputy Commissioner GM Khwaja told The Tribune.

The official said the soldiers involved in the incident were from Army’s 46 Rashtriya Rifles.

“We have written to the police to register an FIR under (Section) 302 (murder) against the Army unit concerned,” Khwaja said.

The official said the killing of the boy had nothing to do with the “law and order situation”.

A police spokesperson said a case under Section 302 had been registered against “security forces” at the Baramulla police station. He said the unit would be identified during the course of investigation.

Soon after Sofi’s killing, violent protests broke out at several places in Baramulla town and continued into the evening as angry residents hurled stones at government offices.

A spontaneous shutdown was observed in the Valley today against the death of a Kashmiri student in Hyderabad. The shutdown was widespread as most shops, markets and other commercial outlets remained closed across the region.

A council of separatist groups, which is spearheading the protests demanding the return of bodies of Guru and 1960s militant commander Muhammad Maqbool Butt — both of whom are buried in New Delhi’s Tihar jail — had called for a march to Parigam village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, which is the dead student’s native village.

The police had laid barricades and concertina wires on routes leading to Pulwama district to stop the march.

Clashes erupted earlier in the day in Srinagar’s old city when the police and paramilitary forces stopped a march of several hundred youngsters near Habba Kadal. Eyewitnesses said the police fired tear smoke and pepper gas shells to disperse the march.

The Army said its foot-patrol was attacked by a "violent mob of over 250 persons" and despite warning they continued to hurl stones following which its personnel opened fire in air.

A person out of the mob assaulted the Army personnel with an iron rod creating a life threatening situation and to save themselves, the patrol fired in air," said an Army statement .

We had received intelligence inputs that the terrorists had plans to attack Armymen during protest in Baramulla using the crowd as a shield, the statement said.