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Machil encounter: J&K govt orders probe

May 28, 2010 00:15 IST

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday ordered a magisterial probe into the killing of three persons by the army on the Line of Control after it said an infiltration bid had been foiled in north Kashmir's Machil sector of Kupwara district.

A defence spokesman in Srinagar in a statement said that troops gunned down three infiltrators in the Machil sector of the LoC on April 30.

However, villagers in north Kashmir's Nadihal village in Sopore district have been holding protests for the past one month seeking the whereabouts of three youth -- namely Shahzad Ahmad, Riyaz Ahmad and Mohammad Shafi -- who have been missing ever since.

The police have already lodged a missing report in the local police station and two persons are being questioned regarding the fate of the missing persons.

Thousands of villagers held a protest demonstration on Thursday alleging that the three missing youth had been framed and killed in the Machil encounter.

Kashmir divisional commissioner Naseema Lankar will conduct the probe to ascertain the fate of the missing persons, official sources in Srinagar said.

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar