Massive protests broke out when a gunfight between holed-up terrorists and government forces was going on at Kiloora village in Shopian district on Saturday morning, police said. A senior police officer told this newspaper that the government forces had to deal with hundreds of protesters who were trying to disrupt the operation. The officer said that several protesters were injured when the government forces were forced to open fire.
Latest reports from Shopian said that one of the injured civilians, identified as Bilal Ahmad Khan of Pujoo village of Kralchuk area of Shopian, has succumbed to his injuries in hospital. Local reports further said that two civilians, injured in protests, were critical. State DGP S.P. Vaid, said that the operation started on Friday night when the forces were sealing the area for a cordon and search operation after having credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in that area. Police said that four of them were killed on Saturday morning while one was killed last night and they have identified him as a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, Umar Malik.