BOMBAY/SRINAGAR, 27 October — Three people were killed when police opened fire to control a rampaging mob after Friday prayers in the western state of Maharashtra, authorities said. A curfew was in place on last night after violence erupted near a mosque in Malegaon, a town 250 km from Bombay.
A police spokesman said that a group distributing pamphlets after Friday prayers turned violent when a police officer tore one of the papers.
“The mob then went on a rampage and burned three shops. Police opened fire to control the mob (and) three people were killed,” the official said.
He said he did not know what the pamphlets contained and could not confirm whether the incident was related to protests the US-led strikes in Afghanistan. The state’s junior home minister, Kripa Shanker Singh, said calm had returned after more security forces were sent to the area.
“I am trying to get more information about what provoked the incident,” Singh said. Maharashtra, which has a sizable Muslim population, has witnessed bloody communal violence in the past.
Earlier yesterday, police in Kashmir’s main city fired tear gas yesterday to disperse dozens of Muslim demonstrators protesting US-led strikes on Afghanistan, witnesses said.
They said the protesters gathered outside Jamia Masjid in Srinagar after weekly Friday prayers and shouted pro-Afghanistan and anti-American slogans. “Down with America... “ the protesters shouted.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani former chairman of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, All-Parties Hurriyat Conference called for peaceful protests yesterday.
Geelani has denounced the raids against the Taleban who have given protection to Osama Bin Laden, whom Washington holds responsible for the devastating Sept. 11 attacks.
Several protesters waived anti-American banners. “The most cruel nation in the history of mankind is America” a banner read.
Protesters pelted stones at police at several areas in downtown Srinagar, witnesses said. Kashmir Valley has witnessed a series of violent demonstrations since US launched strikes on Afghanistan’s Taleban rulers.
Meanwhile, seven people died yesterday in separatist-linked violence in Kashmir, while a leading militant outfit announced it was replacing its operations chief.
Hizbul Mujahedeen said its chief commander Abdul Majid Dar, who in June 2000 unveiled a short-lived cease-fire with the government, was removed by the group’s Pakistan-based leadership and replaced by Saiful Islam. “This has nothing to do with the declaration of a cease-fire last year. It is a routine reshuffle,” Hizb spokesman Salim Hashmi said.
Two members of another Pakistan-based group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, tried Thursday to storm a police station at Chadoora, 30 km east of Srinagar, police said.
The police fired and killed one of the activists who had entered the station and holed himself up in the bathroom. The other militant escaped.
Two policemen were injured in the incident. Police shot dead three more activists in separate encounters in Srinagar and in the Anantag and Kupwara districts. In Anantag, activists also killed a civilian and a member of a pro-government militant group, according to police.
