Three killed in police firing at Bandipora in J&K

NEW DELHI: Three protesters were killed and five injured in police firing at Bandipora in Kashmir on Tuesday morning, according to official sources.

The protesters came out on the streets demanding the release of a Hurriyat leader from house arrest so that the leaders can participate in the last rights of the deceased Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz.

Aziz, died at a hospital in Srinagar after being critically injured in police firing at Chahal village in Baramulla district on Monday.

Aziz was party of the fruit grower's march from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad. Four other people were killed in police firing at different places on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.

The Army has been kept on standby in the Kashmir valley with the situation become tense.

Curfew remained clamped for the second day on Tuesday in Srinagar after authorities feared trouble over the death of the Hurriyat leader.

Aziz's body which was taken to Jamia Masjid in the interior city is likely to be buried at the Eidgah martyrs' graveyard on Tuesday.

Monday's march by Kashmir Fruit Growers Association, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Traders Federation, both factions of Hurriyat Conference and the PDP followed a call for 'Muzaffarabad chalo' to "neutralise" the economic blockade "enforced" by the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, spearheading the shrine land stir in the Jammu region.

Concerned over the escalating violence in the state, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened an all-party meeting on Wednesday at 10 am.