Kulgam villagers protest 145;damage146; to mosque

They had erected barricades outside the village and no outsider was allowed in. The villagers too were stopped as they proceeded towards the mosque.

The trouble started again in the afternoon when JKLF leader Yasin Malik was addressing the villagers. Soon the villagers started pelting the police with stones after which the police baton-charged the crowd and fired shots in the air. A police spokesman later denied that the mosque had been damaged and said they had rescued three civilians who were taken hostage by the militants. 8220;It is a baseless allegation that the mosque was damaged in the operation,8221; he said.