Prisoners, guards clash in IOK jail

JAMMU—At least a dozen people have been injured in clashes between hundreds of prisoners and security forces at a high security prison in India-held Kashmir, officials said on Sunday. Inmates in Kotbalwal prison in Jammu pelted stones and other objects at security forces, protesting what they called intrusive searches and restrictions on their movements.
There are about 400 inmates, mostly people convicted of offences such as militancy and murder, at Kotbalwal prison. Some prisoners were seen with gas cylinders on the roof of the prison, trying to ward off the security forces. “This morning they had come out prepared with iron rods, sticks and stones,” said a prison official, who did not want to be named. “We were taken by surprise.” Around 900 policemen and paramilitary forces, who guard the prison complex, baton-charged the inmates and then fired shots into the air. An additional 500 armed police were called in.# The prison had witnessed several skirmishes between local and foreign inmates in recent years but authorities moved most of foreign militants to other prisons in October.—Agencies