SRINAGAR: In a sudden escalation of violence in J&K, 16 people, including seven civilians and four jawans, were killed and more than 40 others injured in three separate incidents on Sunday.

The civilians lost their lives in a blast soon after an encounter got over in Laroo village in Kulgam district in which three Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists were eliminated. Additional DGP Munir Ahmad Khan said the civilians rushed to the house where the terrorists had been hiding as soon as the encounter ended and fiddled with hand grenades kept there, resulting in the explosion.

In the second incident, three Army jawans and two infiltrators were killed in an encounter.

Terming the killings of the civilians in Laroo village as “unfortunate”, Khan said, “As usual, people didn’t heed to appeals from the security forces not to go to an encounter site after an operation.”

He repeated his appeal to people to refrain from visiting such sites after an encounter till the time they were sanitised by the J&K police’s bomb disposal squad.

Police spokesman Manoj Kumar also said that the civilians rushed to the house immediately after the encounter got over, ignoring appeals from the police. There have been several instances in the past of civilians, particularly stone-pelters, reaching the encounter sites during or immediately after security forces’ operations.

In a few cases, terrorists have managed to escape because civilians’ presence acts as ahindrance for security forces. A senior police officer said the three Jaish terrorists eliminated in Laroo were identified as Zubair Lone, Shahdil Tantray and Yazil Makroo.

A cordon-and-search operation was launched in the village following specific information about their presence, he said, adding that two cops were also injured in the operation. While five civilians were killed on the spot in the explosion, two others died of injuries in a Srinagar hospital, police said. As many as 43 others were injured.

