Those responsible for Sopore killings should be held to account: UN chief

United Nations, July 2 (IANS) Those who were responsible for the killing of a civilian and a CRPF head constable in Kashmir have to be made to account for it, according to the spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Asked about the incident at his daily briefing on Wednesday, Stephane Dujarric said, “We will look into it. Obviously people who were responsible need to be brought to account. But let me look further into it.”

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (L-e-T) carried out the attack in Sopore on Wednesday, according to Vijay Kumar, the Kashmir Inspector General of Police.

He said that a foreigner, Usman Bhai, and a local person, Adil, were responsible for the shooting carried out from a mosque when the CRPF personnel were leaving their vehicle, he said.

Kumar said the CRPF did not return fire and rescued the three-year-old grandson of the civilian killed, Bashir Ahmed Khan.

In answer to another question about the protests following the killings, Dujaric said, “As anywhere, we encourage people to be, authorities to allow people to demonstrate freely and that they can express their rights to demonstrate.”