J-K: Hizb owns slain youth, accuses army of custodial killings
Hizbul Mujahideen militant group has owned the three slain youth, whose bullet-riddled bodies were recovered in north Kashmir on Monday. The militant group has accused the army of killing them in custody
Hizbul Mujahideen militant group has owned the three slain youth, whose bullet-riddled bodies were recovered in north Kashmir on Monday. The militant group has accused the army of killing them in custody.
Senior separatist leader and chairman of his faction of the political amalgam Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Geelani, has called for a complete state-wide shutdown on Wednesday to protest the "cold blooded murder".
The three bodies were recovered from an orchard in Baramulla district and triggered violent protests in parts of the Valley.
Police said the three slain youths were militants killed in a war between Hizb and its breakaway faction Lashkar-e-Islam, which is led by a local militant Qayoom Najar.
A Hizb statement received by a local news agency, however, denied that there was any organisation called Lashkar-e-Islam and said the confirmation that the three youth were Hizb militants came from teh group's chief, Syed Salahuddin.
Geelani’s call for the shutdown has been supported by JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik. “Malik has appealed for a complete shutdown in the Valley to denounce the deaths of the youths whose bullet-riddled bodies were found at two places,” the JKLF spokesperson said in a statement.
Kashmir police chief Javed Gillani had on Monday said that two of the missing youth had joined militant ranks. One of the men, he said was identified as Amir Reshi, who went missing two months ago and had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen. Another youth has been identified as Ashiq Ahmad Wani, who joined the group in June 2014. Reshi was missing since July 2015, the officer added.
Meanwhile, another body was found in Baramulla's Tangmarg area on Tuesday.
The body of Manzoor Ahmad Reshi, who was in his mid-thirties, was found near Government Middle School, Gonipori.
