Jammu, May 16 (IANS): Authorities imposed curfew and called out the Army on Thursday after suspected cow vigilantes killed a civilian in Jammu and Kashmir's Bhaderwah town in Doda district, triggering group clashes.

Nayeem Shah was reportedly transporting bovine animals in his vehicle when a group of cow vigilantes allegedly attacked and killed him early on Thursday morning. Shah's body was recovered by the police in the Nalthi Pul area.

The Army was called out to assist the civil administration maintain calm in the town. Officials said the curfew will remain in force till further orders. Police are investigating the matter while the authorities have appealed to the people to maintain communal harmony.

Meanwhile, Ghulam Nabi Azad, senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said that a magisterial probe should be initiated to probe the incident.

Azad, who belongs to Bhaderwah, said that he has spoken to the concerned District Magistrate (DM) and has asked him to have the civilian's murder probed by a magistrate.

Azad also appealed to the two communities in Bhaderwah not to fall prey to the designs of the miscreants who want to stoke communal trouble in the town.

Giving details of the incident, a local who was accompanying Shah when they were attacked, said the assailants fired at them when they were moving in the wee hours of Thursday morning with their livestock.

The man said that Shah was hit in the head and died on the spot, while he and another local accompanying him ran to save their lives.