Srinagar NIT row: Stone-pelters target security forces after search operation

Srinagar: In yet another such incident, a group of stone-pelting youth on Monday targeted security forces who had gone to a village in Kashmir to carry out a search operation following information that some militants were hiding there.

Security forces fired some tear gas shells to disperse the mobs, police said, adding nobody was injured in it. Soldiers of 50 Rastriya Rifles and policemen conducted a search operation in Lelhaar village of Pulwama district, 32 kms from here, following information about presence of militants in the area, police said.

The search operation yielded nothing and the security forces called off the operation, police said. As the forces were returning to their respective bases, a group of youth pelted stones on them.

"The security forces were forced to fire few rounds of tear smoke shells to disperse the mob. There were no injuries reported in the incident," a police officer said. Stone-pelting incidents by mobs during and after counter-insurgency operations has become very common in parts of Kashmir over the past few months.