Clashes after three rebels killed in Indian Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India: Thousands of protesters clashed with government forces in Indianadministered Kashmir yesterday after three local rebels were killed in a firefight with troops, police said, with tensions already high following the death of a popular militant commander this week.

Soldiers and police special counterinsurgency forces surrounded a neighbourhood in Sopore town, 45 kilometres northwest of the main city of Srinagar, after “specific information” that militants were hiding in a house there, triggering a firefight.

“During the encounter three militants of LeT (Lashkar-eTaiba) were eliminated,” a police statement said, adding that three automatic assault rifles were recovered from the site of the clash.

As news of the deaths spread, clashes between local residents and government forces broke out in many areas.

Three protesters were injured in the northern Bandipore area, home to one of the slain militants, when soldiers fired bullets as hundreds of angry local residents came out on the streets to pelt their convoy with stones, a police officer said speaking on condition of anonymity.

In southern Kashmir valley thousands of protesters clashed with government forces who fired bullets in the air and used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a crowds, which was chanting: “We want freedom”.

Yesterday’s clash comes a day after a local armed militant and a civilian were killed by soldiers during a shootout in Bijbehara area in the south of the restive territory where such clashes have become frequent since the start of the year. — AFP