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Boy Killed in Kashmir Explosion

by AFP

File Photo

Another four injured after ‘unknown object’ they were playing with detonates

A young boy was killed and four others wounded on Wednesday in India-administered Kashmir when an “unknown object” they were playing with exploded, police said.

The children were playing in Shopian, a volatile district where Indian soldiers killed two suspected militants in a gun battle on Tuesday, when the accident occurred. “These children were fiddling with this unknown object which exploded in their hands,” Shopian police superintendent Sandeep Choudhary told AFP. “One boy aged between seven and 11 died, and the four others are being treated at a hospital.”

Another police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was possible the boys had retrieved a grenade from the location of Tuesday’s firefight.

Hundreds of locals descended on the scene of the shooting, throwing stones at Indian soldiers. One protester was killed and more than 120 hospitalized when Indian forces opened fire on the crowd.

His death came just days after three civilians were shot dead in a separate protest.

Many civilians in Kashmir support rebels who have been fighting for decades for independence or for a merger with Pakistan, which like India also claims the divided territory in full. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting.

Last month, the U.N. human rights chief released a report, calling for an investigation into alleged abuses perpetrated by Indian security forces in Kashmir. India rejected the report as “fallacious.”

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