Security forces resort to aerial firing to disperse protesters in Pulwama

Security forces resorted to aerial firing on Saturday to disperse scores of protesters trying to march towards the site of a gunfight between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. Police said the security forces fired in the air after people from adjoining villages started marching towards Aripal village in Tral area. The protesters assembled as news spread that a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Hammad Khan, had been killed. There was no official word on the killing as police said the operation against the militants was still going on.

Police, however, confirmed that a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper was injured in the exchange of fire between holed up militants and the security forces. "The injured CRPF jawan has been shifted to hospital," a police officer said. Reports from the area said that the house in which the militants were hiding had been destroyed in the encounter and firing exchanges had stopped after that.

(With inputs from agencies.)