Clashes, shutdown in India-administered Kashmir over boy's death

Feb 1, 2010, 11:00 GMT

Srinagar, Kashmir - Mobs clashed with police as several areas observed a shutdown in India-administered Kashmir on Monday in protest over the death of a 16-year-old boy.

Crowds threw stones at security and paramilitary personnel, who fired tear-gas and charged them with batons in different areas of state capital Srinagar, local police said.

No one was injured during the protests, police said.

On Sunday, the boy identified as Wamiq Farooq was hit on the head by a tear gas shell fired by police during anti-India protests in the Rajouri area of the city. The boy later succumbed to his injuries.

Scores of mourners shouted pro-independence slogans Monday as they carried Farooq's body from his home to be buried. Separatist leaders such as Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik attended the boy's funeral.

Shops and businesses were closed and traffic was sparse across city.

'The situation remains tense but is under control. We have already taken action and suspended the policeman who fired the tear gas,' a local police officer requesting anonymity said.

A probe has been ordered and further action would be taken soon, he added.

More than 45,000 people - civilians, militants and security forces - have been killed in insurgency-stricken Kashmir since the activities of the militant separatists peaked in the late 1980s.