Five Hurriyat leaders detained by the Kashmiri police

Five leaders of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference were detained by police, as they tried to visit the violence-hit Baramulla town, 55 km from here today, official sources said.

The leaders including chairman of Salvation Movement Zaffar Akbar Bhat, chief of Islamic Political Party Mohammad Yousuf Naqash and Muslim League leader Hakeem Abdul Rashid were taken into preventive custody at Mirgund, 14 km from here on Srinagar-Baramulla National highway, the sources said.

Baramulla town, was on the boil since Friday following the death of a boy Irfan Ahmad Lone allegedly in teargas shelling by police, while chasing away a stone-pelting mob protesting the continued house arrest of hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Strongly condemning the police action, a spoke-person of the moderate Hurriyat said the delegation was heading for Baramulla to express solidarity with the family of the slain boy.