A fresh wave of protests in Kashmir Valley of north Indian state Jammmu and Kashmir Monday
claimed six lives and left 250 injured as police opened fire to disperse rampaging mobs who indulged in stone-pelting, attacked government buildings and looted weapons from police.
Defying curfew, stone-pelting protesters took to streets in several places and attacked police stations and CRPF camps in the Valley where 21 people have been killed and over 500
injured, including 200 security force personnel, in violence since last Friday.
One protester was killed in police firing after agitators attacked a police post and attempted to set it afire in Kulgam district. In adjacent Sangam in Anantnag district, one person was killed when Central Reserve Police Force
personnel retaliated to heavy stone throwing at their camp, police said, adding another person died in a stampede following the firing.
At Kakpora, in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, police opened fire on a group of stone-pelting protesters who were indulging in ransacking, killing one of them.
One person was killed in Kralpora in north Kashmir's Kupwara district when police fired on a mob which looted arms from a police post. The agitators managed to flee with four rifles.
A boy, who was injured in violence in Batmaloo district this afternoon, succumbed in the evening, police said.
Protesters this afternoon set afire all the four
buildings in a police station at Rajpura in Pulwama district injuring 20 people.
"Rampaging mobs violated curfew restrictions at various places in Kakapora, Pulwama, Budgam, Anantnag, Kulgam and Kupwara destroying police and public properties," police
department said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, protesters set afire two government offices and a railway structure in central Budgam district.
Three protesters were injured there as police tried to contain the violence.
Three people were injured in firing in Bemina on the outskirts of Srinagar.
A person identified as Tariq Ahmed, who was hit by a teargas shell three days back in Bijbehara in south Kashmir, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital here.
Meanwhile, the Centre today rallied behind Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in handling the situation in the Kashmir Valley and indicated it is committed to
carrying out political initiatives for which peace is a prerequisite.
Arriving in New Delhi on Monday morning, Omar called on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the current unrest in the Valley and find
an administrative and political way out.
He briefed the meeting in which all the members of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence
Minister A K Antony and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna were present on the latest turn of events in Kashmir which witnessed a spurt in violence.