SRINAGAR – Strife-torn Kashmir seems to be staring at another bout ofunrest after mounting civilian casualties in the anti-militant operationsand the clashes across the valley.

Latest trigger seems to be the killing of four civilians at Khudwani areain South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday. A soldier was killed whilemilitants managed to escape from the encounter site at Khudwani.

Around 28 civilians have been killed since January this year in the Kashmirvalley. The dead include six people killed by terrorists. Twelve civilianswere killed near the gun fight sites and eight were killed during clashes.

In the 12 days of April, 11 civilians have died so far. They include twocivilians killed by the militant in Hajin area of North Kashmir. Thirteenmilitants and four Army men were also killed in April so far. The mountingcivilian casualties has given the separatists handle to brace up foranother round of agitation in Kashmir.

To start with the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) of separatists calledfor shutdown on Thursday and asked people to lodge protest after Fridayprayers. The JRL also asked the people to observe complete black out in theevenings to register their protest against the civilian killings.

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), is a conglomerate of Hurriyat hawk SyedAli Shah Geelani, moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammuand Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik, who spearheadedthe 2016 unrest in Kashmir.