Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 10

With an increase in incidents of violence around gunfight sites, the Army today warned of “appropriate action” against protesters who took the law in their hands.The warning came a day after a large number of protesters in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district threw stones on security men during a major counter-insurgency operation that left two foreign militants dead.The police said stone throwers helped over half a dozen trapped militants, including a self-styled commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, to escape from the encounter site.Two civilians were injured in Army firing in the Aishmuqam area of Anantnag during a cordon and search operation on Tuesday.“In case a crowd takes the law in its hands and threatens life and property, security forces will initiate appropriate action to counter it,” said an Army spokesman. The spokesman said security forces were “forced to open cautionary fire” in Aishmuqam.“The Aishmuqam incident was investigated and it was established that security forces were forced to open cautionary fire to prevent any further injury, loss or damage to personnel, weapon equipment and other government property, in which two persons resorting to stone throwing were injured,” he said.Of late, there has been a trend, mostly in districts of south Kashmir, of locals throwing stones near encounter sites to ensure that holed up militants manage to escape the cordon.