Kashmir tensions increase as 7 killed in fighting

SRINAGAR, INDIA >> Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants.

Government forces surrounded a village in the southern Pulwama area early Monday on a tip that militants were hiding there, security officials said. As troops began conducting searches, they came under heavy gunfire, leading to a firefight that killed four soldiers, two suspected militants and a civilian.

Another soldier was wounded in the operation, which follows the Feb. 14 suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 soldiers, the worst attack against Indian government forces in Kashmir’s history.

India has blamed the attack on Pakistan and promised a “jaw breaking response.” Pakistan has warned India against linking it to the attack without an investigation, saying that it was part of New Delhi’s “known rhetoric and tactics” to divert global attention from human rights violations in Kashmir.

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Muslim-majority region in its entirety.

The attack has led to a spike in communal tensions in Hindu-majority India.

Videos of anti-Kashmiri protests have gone viral on social media, including some in which Kashmiri students were beaten by mobs of Hindu nationalist groups and warned to leave colleges and universities.

On the outskirts of the northern city of Ambala, some 300 Kashmiri students were forced to leave their rented accommodations by local Hindu residents, at least three students reached by phone told The Associated Press.

One of the students, Ahmed, who asked to be identified by only his middle name due to fear of reprisals from his university, said he and his fellow students were feeling insecure despite police security.

In another northern city, Dehradun, at least 20 Kashmiri students were forced to lock themselves in their hostel rooms until police arrived, The Times of India newspaper reported. Officials at the police control room in Dehradun said the students were safe, but refused to comment further.

Vijay Kumar, a top government adviser, said they received several complaints from students and traders and authorities were “doing everything possible for the security” of Kashmiris. He said authorities have spoken with local officials in various cities of the country and also set up help centers for Kashmiris living outside the state.

Reports of harassment elsewhere in India have triggered public anger in Kashmir, where authorities have suspended internet on mobile phones and also reduced its speed of other internet sources in a bid to stop the spread of viral videos or the organization of protests.

Monday’s fighting in Kashmir triggered antiIndia protests and clashes, with local residents, mainly youths, trying to march to the site of the gunbattle in solidarity with the rebels. Government forces fired tear gas at the stone-throwing protesters. No one was immediately reported injured in the clashes.

Residents said troops destroyed one civilian house with explosives during the fighting. Police said they recovered the bodies of two militants from the debris. A civilian was also killed in the crossfire, police said.

The dead soldiers included an Indian army major. The wounded soldier was reported to be in critical condition.

Rebels have been fighting Indian control in Kashmir since 1989 and the uprising and ensuing crackdown have killed about 70,000 people.

Most Kashmiris support the rebels’ demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.