As people continued to defy the curfew, imposed in view of the pro-Amarnath protests, for the fourth day in Jammu region, Army staged a flag march at Kathua on Friday.

Elsewhere, a police vehicle, carrying a militant and a team of Jammu and Kashmir police officers, was attacked by protestors and set afire at Ghaghwal near Hiranagar on Jammu-Pathankote National Highway. All the vehicle occupants were injured, and the national highway was also blocked for several hours. They were rescued by the troops of Army and CRPF.

Despite the Rapid Action Force (RAF), the specialised wing of the Central Reserve Police Force, having flown into Jammu from New Delhi, violent clashes between protestors and police were reported from many places in Jammu city and its outskirts. More than four dozen people were injured in the clashes at various places.

People defied the curfew at several places including Lakhanpur, Nagari, Heera Nagar and Kathua. When the Army staged a flag march at Kathua, the protestors pelted their vehicles with stones which resulted in injuries to one Armyman.

Hundreds of protestors at Jourian in Akhnoor led by BJP youth leader Daljeet Singh hoisted the tricolour at a place of worship despite stiff resistance from the local police. Five Shiv Sena activists were injured in police lathicharge at Khour. People also damaged cutouts of the local Congress MLA in Akhnoor area.

Sources said when the protestors spotted a police vehicle, carrying a militant and a team of Jammu and Kashmir police officers, they gheraoed it at Ghaghwal near Hiranagar on Jammu-Pathankote National Highway. The police vehicle was on its way from Pulwama district in Kashmir to Hiranagar. The militant, lodged in Hiranagar district jail in Kathua, had been taken to a court in Pulwama for hearing in a case. The mob got enraged and set the vehicle afire.

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