Raid goes sideways: Teenaged boy injured as ‘criminals’ open fire on police

Locals block Neelum Valley road for three hours in protest

MUZAFFARABAD: A teenaged boy passing by was injured as criminals allegedly opened fired on the police in the Lower Plate area of Muzaffarabad on Monday.

According to City police station SHO Rashid Habib, a police party was raiding a suspected hideout of criminals in Lower Plate area on Monday.

When the police squad circled the suspected hideout, the criminals allegedly opened fire on them from the roof of the house.

In the firing, a 14-year-old boy passing through the area was shot.

The criminals fled while the police shifted the injured boy to the Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Hospital for treatment.

“The boy received a bullet to his face,” said a doctor at the hospital while talking to the media.

“We operated on him and he is in stable condition,” the doctor added.

Meanwhile, residents of Lower Plate staged a protest against the police for not taking action against the criminals and over the injury sustained by the boy. They set tyres on fire and blocked the Neelum Valley road for over three hours, demanding the arrest of criminals.

“The same group [of criminals] who fired on the police party and injured the boy had also thrashed a boy on March 18 in the same area. Police must take action against the criminals and return peace to the area,” said a protesting resident of Lower Plate.

The district administration and police, meanwhile, assured the protesters that the criminals would soon be arrested. After the assurances from the administration, the protesters opened the road for traffic.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2017.