Clashes erupt after Indian troops kill Kashmir rebels
SRINAGAR: AntiIndia protests and clashes erupted in the main city in Indiancontrolled Kashmir after three men police identified as rebels were killed in a gunbattle with government forces.
The fighting began overnight yesterday after Indian troops raided western Radbugh village following a tip that militants were hiding there, said police inspectorgeneral Muneer Ahmed Khan.
He said the gunfight lasted the whole night and the three rebels were killed early yesterday.
Authorities imposed a curfew in downtown Srinagar, anticipating protests and clashes opposing Indian rule because two of the dead men were natives of the city.
As news of the killings spread, residents defied the restrictions and threw rocks at police and paramilitary soldiers while chanting prorebel slogans against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
The troops fired tear gas to quell the protests and brought more reinforcements to impose a security lockdown in the city’s downtown.
Many traders shuttered their shops and businesses in noncurfew areas of the city in solidarity with the rebels.
Hundreds participated in the funeral of one of the slain militants in Srinagar, chanting profreedom slogans. A group of young men briefly clashed with soldiers after the rebel’s burial.
No one was reported injured. Nucleararmed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
Rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for the Indianadministered portion of Kashmir to become independent or merge with Pakistan. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting and the ensuing Indian crackdown.
AntiIndia sentiment runs deep in Kashmir’s mostly Muslim population and most people support the rebels’ cause against Indian rule despite a decadeslong military crackdown to fight the armed rebellion. — AP