Thousands of Kashmiris on Thursday held protests against the killing of a student by police, as four people died elsewhere in the state in fresh violence. The Federal Central Reserve Police Force said they had killed Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh when he tried to hurl a grenade at one of their patrols in Srinagar's busy Dalgate area on Wednesday.
Dalgate residents poured onto the streets on Thursday to protest the killing. They said Sheikh, who was studying for a bachelor of arts degree in occupied Srinagar, was gunned down when he had an argument with police over frisking.
At Sheikh's home town of Bandipora, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of occupied Srinagar, angry residents blocked the main highway and burnt tyres to protest the killing, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
Police estimated the crowd at 5,000 to 6,000. Residents maintain Sheikh was an innocent student but federal police insist he was a militant and announced rewards for two constables who killed him.
The Muslim League, a political separatist group, said Sheikh was a member of its student wing. League activists and students from two leading men's colleges held separate protests in Srinagar, witnesses said, adding that at least a dozen of students were hurt when police used batons and tear gas to disperse them.
Meanwhile, occupation troops shot dead a freedom fighter in the northern town of Patan, while suspected freedom fighter was killed in the same area on Thursday, police said.
They said freedom fighter killed a policeman in southern Pulwama district, while in central Budgam district an alleged wildlife smuggler was ambushed by the army and shot dead when he ignored signals to stop.
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