A woman was injured in Budgam district after a stray bullet fired from nearby Air Force firing range hit her Friday morning, evoking protests in the area.
Official sources said that Fatima wife of late Ghulam Rasool of Wulina Icchigam was cleaning vegetables on her veranda when the bullet hit her leg.
She was rushed to hospital for treatment where her condition is stated to be stable.
“Police station Budgam received a report that due to some aerial firing shots few tin roofs in village Wulina have suffered damage and one lady has received injury. On this, police party led by SHO Budgam reached the spot and the injured was shifted to hospital for treatment. On enquiry, it was found that stray bullets fired from the firing range of the Air Force had hit the roofs and injured the lady,” police said in a statement.
The incident sparked protests in the area. The people were demanding an end to such incidents.
This is not the first time that somebody has sustained injuries due to ammunition from firing ranges in Budgam. There have been scores of deaths and injuries due to littered explosives during the past some years.
Famous meadow Tosa Maidan was one of the biggest firing ranges of the army in central Kashmir. The army, which used the meadow for artillery practice, had handed it over to civilian authorities in 2014 after declaring it to be sanitised. However, about 70 people have been killed and hundreds injured in explosions in the sprawling meadow spread over 375 acres of land from time to time. The army took over Tosa Maidan in 1964 as a firing range.