Alwaght- Violent clashes between police and protesting residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir, leaving a man dead and two others wounded on Wednesday, witnesses said.
The protesters were angry that Indian state forces killed a resident in the village of Naina located south of the city of Srinagar, the summer capital of the disputed Himalayan valley.
Chanting pro-independence slogans, scores of youths hurled rocks at government forces during protests in Naina and in neighboring Batpora village.
Police tried to quell the protests by firing gunshots and tear gas in to the air, but protesters torched an armored police vehicle, Kumar said. Government forces then fired on the protesters, killing one man and wounding two others, according to witnesses.
Inspector-General Sayed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani confirmed that a civilian had been killed and said the two men injured were hospitalized and in stable condition.
The Muslim-majority region of Kashmir has been the scene of violent clashes in recent years. Indian army troops are in constant clashes with residents seeking independence in the troubled region.
The Himalayan region is divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both, since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947.
The two countries have fought two of their three wars over their competing claims to Kashmir, though a 2003 ceasefire has largely held despite small but regular clashes.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir where rebels have been fighting since 1989 for the region's independence or merger with Pakistan, which controls another portion of the disputed Himalayan territory in the west.
More than 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The secessionist movements have largely been suppressed by Indian troops in recent years, and resistance is now principally expressed through street protests.