Clashes erupt in Kashmir a year after killing of leader who defied India

SRINAGAR, India — Residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir clashed with government forces Saturday as they defied a stringent curfew on the anniversary of the killing of a rebel leader whose death triggered open defiance against Indian rule.

Officials and witnesses said residents in the main city of Srinagar and at least four places in southern Kashmir tried to march on the streets while chanting slogans in favour of rebels and ending Indian rule. Police and paramilitary soldiers fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The protesters responded by hurling rocks at troops. At least 15 people were reported injured.

While Kashmir has remained on edge, the Indian and Pakistani armies, which regularly trade fire and blame across the de-facto militarized frontier that divides the disputed territory between them, fired at each other’s positions, killing three civilians and an off-duty soldier, officials said.

Pakistan’s military said two civilians were killed and three others wounded in the Indian army’s “unprovoked” firing and shelling at two places along the highly militarized Line of Control.

India’s military said an offduty soldier visiting his home was killed along with his wife after a shell fired from the Pakistani side hit their house in Poonch sector. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Manish Mehta called it an “unprovoked” violation of the 2003 ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

India has accused Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, which Pakistan denies.

For the second straight day, government forces sealed off the hometown of Burhan Wani, the 22-year-old rebel leader who was killed on July 8 last year, along with two associates in a gunbattle with Indian troops. Witnesses said security forces ordered residents in southern Tral town to stay indoors.

Wani’s killing set off months of protests and deadly clashes across the region, during which at least 90 people were killed and thousands injured.