15 die as protests roil Indian Kashmir after rebel’s death

Among the 18 dead was a policeman, who drowned when angry protesters pushed an armored vehicle into a river in the southern district of Sangam on Sunday, a police officer told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

Indian troops fired on protesters in Kashmir as tens of thousands of Kashmiris defied a curfew imposed in most parts of the troubled region Saturday and participated in the funeral of the top rebel commander killed by Indian government forces, officials and locals said. Police posts have been set on fire and spontaneous stone-throwing clashes have broken out with the government forces.

The BBC’s South Asia correspondent, Justin Rowlatt, says this is the worst violence in the region for some years and the fear is that if it is not brought under control soon, many more people could be killed and injured.

Pakistan on Sunday condemned what it termed the “extra-judicial” killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani by government forces in India-held Kashmir (IHK) as the death toll from clashes between Indian troops and protesters in the region rose to 15. His funeral was attended by thousands. Wani hailed from Pulwama.

“Indian forces are straight firing on millions of unarmed citizens”.

Normal life remained paralyzed across Kashmir due to strike called by separatist groups to protest the civilian killings even as curfew-like restrictions continued in parts of the valley as a precautionary measure for the second day.

NEW DELHI Home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and spoke to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, assuring her all possible help from the Centre.

Hoping that normalcy would be brought back at the earliest, Naidu said, “There is an elected Government in the State”.

They have been identified as Imtiyaz Mandoo of Anantnag, Altaf Rather of Rajpora Pulwom, Sajad Thokar of Utrusoo Anantnag, Haseeb Ahmad Ganai Batpora, Khanbal and Yasmeena a resident of DH Pora.

A curfew now covers the entire Kashmir Valley. In a tweet, Singh appealed to the people to remain calm and maintain peace.

Those who died in clashes on Saturday following the killing of Wani include Adil Bashir, Danish Ayub, Abdul Hamid Moochi, Jahangir Ganai, Aijaz Ahmad Thokru, Ashraf Dar, Showkat Ahmad, Haseeb Ahmad and Saqib Mir (all from Anatnag), Khurshid Ahmad (Kulgam) and Azad Hussain (Shopian).

# Three grenades hurled by unidentified men in Pulwama on deployed security forces, two jawans injured, Pulwama SP said, adding that out of the three grenades, two exploded & one did not.

On Saturday, July 9, mobs torched four police stations, two police pickets and a tehsildar’s office.

Of these, 70 were being treated for grave bullet or pellet wounds, sources said.

In small groups, people left from their villages across the south Kashmir to reach Wani’s hometown Tral, where he was to be buried.

With these 2 killings the death toll has climbed upto 23 in Kashmir valley.

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