Alwaght- Indian troops killed Saturday seven people in the summer capital of the Indian Indian-controlled Kashmir, Srinagar.
Indian troops killed six people in attacks on a cluster of homes in a densely populated neighborhood of Srinagar, as New Delhi continues cracking down on Kashmiri separatists, Associated Press reported.
Counterinsurgency police and paramilitary soldiers raided after getting a tip that pro-independence rebels were hiding there, police said. Troops asked the trapped seperatists to surrender but they instead started shooting and sparked a gunbattle, police claimed.
Earlier, as the trapped rebels and Indian troops traded gunfire, anti-India protests and clashes erupted at several places.
Hundreds of residents tried to march to the gunbattle site and threw rocks at troops in order to help the militants escape. They chanted pro-rebel slogans such as “Go India, go back” and “We want freedom.”
Police and paramilitary soldiers fired shotgun pellets and tear gas to stop the protesters.
During Saturday’s fierce clashes, a vehicle belonging to Indian troops ran over and killed a man, residents said. Police called the incident a “road accident” and said they were investigating the death of the man, who succumbed to injuries at a hospital.
Top separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq called the young man’s death a murder.
“How a murder was committed by the forces today and then brazenly denied! Is there no sense of humanity left in India?” Farooq wrote on Twitter, as he also uploaded a video which shows an armored vehicle knocking down a youth.
Pro-independence rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Indian-controlled Kashmir become an independent country. Most Kashmiris support the independence while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control. In recent years, mainly young Kashmiris have displayed open solidarity with separatists and sought to protect them by engaging troops in street clashes during military operations. Last year, at least 29 civilians were killed and hundreds wounded during such clashes.
Authorities snapped internet services on mobile phones in Srinagar, in a common practice the government deploys to calm tensions and to prevent anti-India demonstrations from being organized. Most shops also shut in the city.
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.
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.
