Soldiers fire on protesters in Kashmir, 2 killed

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Source: AP, wral.com

SRINAGAR, India — 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 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.

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.



Read more: http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/world/story/8060384/