Paramilitary soldiers open fire on anti-India protesters in restive Kashmir, 2 killed
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Paramilitary soldiers fired on hundreds of demonstrators in Indian Kashmir on Friday, killing two men and wounding at least 12 others, police said as protests against Indian rule spread across the disputed region.
Troops fired on nearly 1,500 protesters chanting pro-independence slogans in Sopore, a town in the northwest of Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, said a police officer on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with media.
The officer said the protesters had tried to damage a railway track and hurled rocks at the troops guarding the track.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, local residents said they were holding a peaceful protest march after offering Friday prayers when the soldiers opened fire.
Three of those wounded were in critical condition, the police officer said, adding that other clashes erupted in several nearby villages after the shooting.
Protests and clashes were also reported from several other towns in the region.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Earlier Friday, violence erupted Srinagar after two men were wounded when paramilitary forces opened fire on a group of anti-India protesters.
The soldiers shot at rock-throwing demonstrators, wounding two young men — one critically — in the Chanapora neighborhood in Srinagar, said another police officer on condition of anonymity.
The second officer said the protesters began marching on the main road in Chanapora on Friday morning after separatists called for a protest march to Srinagar's central Maisuma district.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Local residents, however, said the injured men were not part of the demonstration, and soldiers shot them near their homes.
As the news of shooting spread, thousands of residents in the city took to the streets chanting, "Go, India! Go back" and "We want freedom!"
The mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong, has been under curfew for most part of the last six weeks as anti-India street demonstrations and clashes surged. Friday's deaths bring the number killed in the recent protests to 19. Earlier this week, local authorities asked two retired judges to investigate the deaths.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The recent tension in the Himalayan region — divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both — is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule sparked an armed conflict. More than 68,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians, in the conflict.
Meanwhile shops, businesses and schools remained shut in Kashmir, and thousands of armed police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled largely deserted streets.
In most parts of Srinagar, government troops asked people to stay indoors to prevent protests against Indian rule.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Separatists have told people to observe strikes to protest Indian rule for five days this week, excluding Tuesday and Saturday to allow people to stock up on food and other essentials.
Separatist politicians and militants reject Indian sovereignty over Kashmir and want to carve out a separate homeland or merge with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.