Alwaght- Anti-India protests have erupted in the southern villages of Indian-administered Kashmir after government forces killed eight separatists.
According to local sources the separatists were killed in two separate gunfights, while the third gun battle in Shopian’s Kachdora village was still under way.
Shesh Paul Vaid, the state police chief, told reporters that the gun battle erupted in southern Kashmir late on Saturday and continued into early Sunday after government forces raided two villages following a tip-off about the presence of rebels.
"We tried to persuade them to surrender but they fired, which was retaliated. One was captured alive," the official said.
"Encounter also going on in Kachdora, Shopian, some civilians trapped efforts to rescue them on," Shesh Paul Vaid said on Twitter.
To prevent demonstrations, authorities stopped train services and cut cellphone internet services in the most restive towns, and reduced connection speeds in other parts of the Kashmir Valley, a common practice aimed to calm tensions and prevent anti-India demonstrations from being organized.
The new round of anti-India protests and clashes comes after Indian troops launched deadly counter-insurgency operations targeting mainly the southern parts of Kashmir, where new-age separatists have revived the armed rebellion and challenged New Delhi's rule with guns and effective use of social media.
In recent years, Kashmiris, mainly youths, have displayed open solidarity with anti-India insurgents nd sought to protect them by engaging troops in street clashes during military operations against the separatists.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep among Kashmir's mostly Muslim population, and most support the separatists' cause against Indian rule, despite a decades-long military crackdown to fight dissent.
Separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 for the Indian-administered portion to become independent or merge with Pakistan.
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown. India maintains roughly 500,000 soldiers in the territory.
The conflict in Indian-controlled Kashmir is basically a struggle for self-determination with residents of the region demanding a plebiscite while India rejects the call.
