Sopore, Mar 14: Amid a shutdown, this north Kashmir town Monday witnessed clashes between police and protesters in the wake of an encounter in which two militants were killed.
All the shops, business establishments and schools remained closed while traffic was partially off the roads in the town.
Early morning youth took to streets, raising pro-freedom and anti-government slogans. The protesters pelted stones on the police and paramilitary CRPF forces deployed in strength in the areas of Chanakhan, Iqbal Market, Arampora and Kralteng.
The police baton-charged the protesters to disperse them, however the latter offered stiff resistance and clashed with cops. Later more reinforcements were sent to control the situation in the volatile areas. The ding-dong clashes between police and protesters continued throughout the day.
The town has been observing partial shutdown since Saturday, when the gunfight started in Kralteng locality.
Two militants including a local, Waseem Ahmed Ganai, were killed in a gunfight with SOG Sopore and Army during the past two days.
In a rare incident of its kind, Lashkar-e-Toiba militants showed up at the funeral of Waseem Ahmad Ganai in Sheikh Sahib Mohalla, Chinkipora, late Sunday, denying police allegations that the slain militant was involved in the killing of two sisters at Muslimpeer, Sopore.
The LeT militants who were masked rejected the police claims as baseless.  The militants, according to sources, also fired several aerial shots as a “guard on honour” for the slain militant.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 IST