Youths, security forces clash in Srinagar

Clashes broke out Monday in Soura area of Srinagar as scores of youths marched to attend the funeral of Essa Fazili, one of the three militants killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Fazili, a B.Tech student, was shot dead along with two other militants by security forces earlier in the day.

Fazili's father is the principal of a higher secondary school in Ganderbal district.

Authorities had imposed restrictions in Soura and some other parts of the old city of Srinagar to maintain law and order.

The youths, who marched towards the Ahmed Nagar home of Fazili in Soura to join the funeral, resorted to heavy stone pelting at the security forces, who used tear smoke shells to try disperse the protesters.

A spontaneous strike was observed in the adjoining Ganderbal district, Srinagar's city centre Lal Chowk and other parts of Srinagar city against Fazili's killing.

Authorities placed senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq under house arrest and took Muhammad Yasin Malik of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front into preventive custody in Srinagar.

All schools and colleges in Srinagar district were closed. All exams scheduled on Monday were postponed.

Train services between Anantnag in south Kashmir and Baramulla in north Kashmir were also suspended.

The Internet speed was slashed to prevent the spread of rumours.

--IANS

sq/mr