June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

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SRINAGAR, June 16: Indian troops on Sunday night killed a Kashmiri Imam of mosque and his son who were mistaken as rebels, leading to a huge anti-government protest, police and witnesses said.

They said Imam Abdul Qayoom and his son Maqsood Ahmed were killed in the village of Wagal, 30km north of the summer capital Srinagar, when they walked into an army ambush set up to trap militants.

“As soon as the two entered the ambush area on Sunday night, the army opened fire killing both of them,” a police source said.

He said the army had moved into the village on a tip-off that militants were expected there.

As soon as the bodies were handed over to the villagers on Monday morning, thousands of them poured onto the streets chanting, “We want freedom” and “Allah is great.”

Witnesses said some 5,000 villagers blocked the main road on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway, forcing authorities to suspend the traffic.

“The villagers were demanding action against troops involved in the killing of the two persons,” resident Mushtaq Ahmed told AFP, adding that the situation in the area was still tense.

Senior district civil and police officials rushed to the village and tried to placate them.

State authorities have ordered a probe into the incident and that a report be submitted within 15 days, an official spokesman said in Srinagar.—Reuters