On Wednesday evening, panic gripped the Rambagh area of Srinagar district in Central Kashmir after some gunshots were heard in the area.
Within no time, the Jammu Kashmir Police tweeted that three Militants had been killed in an encounter in the Rambagh area. The inspector inspector of Police confirmed the same.
Immediately after the encounter, Locals hit the streets in large numbers and staged protests against the killings calling the shootout as staged.
Protesters including women gathered on the streets of Rambagh sloganeering “Narai-Takbeer, Allah-u-Akbar,” while men cleaned the blood off the streets.
Women, who identified themselves as the eyewitnesses to the shootout said, “They (killed persons) were civilians. They were civilians not militants, they were carrying no weapon.”
They added that the trio was travelling in a Santro car. “They were taken out of the car and then shot dead,” the protesting women said.
As the news spread of the killings spread through the area, people took to streets and joined the protesting women claiming that the encounter was staged.
Minor stone throwing clashes were also reported from the area.
The videos from the incidents including one in which bodies of the three lying in front of a Santro car are doing rounds on the internet.
In another viral video, women can be heard claiming that the three were killed in a staged encounter.
JK Police on its official Twitter handle wrote that “Police #neutralised 03 #Militants in #Srinagar. Identification & affliation of the killed terrorists is being ascertained. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice”.
Meanwhile a family member of Mehran took to Facebook and announced the death of Mehran. The 19 year old was missing from his home in jamalat area of Srinagar since may.
The second slain has been identified as Basit Ahmed Dar, a 16-year-old from Redwani area of Kulgam. He was missing since April 25.