Militants among stone-pelters fired at soldiers: Army

The Indian Army on Saturday said it fired at a mob of stone-pelters killing three civilians in a south Kashmir village after "unidentified terrorists" hiding in the crowd opened fire at a patrol party causing injuries to some soldiers.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said in a statement that an area domination patrol came under heavy stone-pelting in Hawoora village of Kulgam.

"As the patrol party tried to extricate, they were chased by an aggressive and menacing crowd of 400-500 persons which kept building up and coming dangerously close.

"Troops while exercising extreme restraint, cautioned the stone-pelters. However, (they) failed to relent and repeatedly threw petrol bombs and stones at the patrolling party.

"At one point of time, some unidentified terrorists also fired on the column. This resulted in some soldiers receiving grevious injuries."

The spokesperson said that in response to this "grave provocation and to ensure security of own troops", controlled firing was resorted to by the army which resulted in loss of human lives.

The matter is being investigated to ascertain facts on ground.

--IANS

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