Death toll hits 15 as clashes continue in Indian Kashmir

AFP , Sunday 10 Jul 2016

The death toll from unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir climbed to 15 Sunday, officials said, despite authorities imposing a harsher curfew on the restive territory in a bid to prevent new demonstrations.

One protestor was killed on Sunday when government forces fired on angry residents who defied the restrictions in the southern Pulwama area, and six died in different hospitals overnight after suffering gunshot wounds on Saturday, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Authorities extended the curfew to the entire Kashmir valley, including the main city of Srinagar for the second day following Saturday's wide-scale clashes over the killing of a popular rebel commander by government forces.

The clashes continued on Sunday despite mobile networks and internet remaining suspended for the second day running in most areas.

Burhan Wani, a 22-year-old commander of the region's largest rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) was killed in brief gunfight with government forces on Friday evening.

His death sparked protests and clashes between government forces and residents angry over the killing across the disputed territory in which more than 200 were wounded, most of them from firearms.

The injured included 96 police, a police statement said Saturday.

At least three police stations were set on fire by protestors and three officers were missing, the statement added.

Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since 1947, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

HM is one of several groups that for decades have been fighting around half a million Indian troops deployed in the region, calling for independence for Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting since 1989.

Resistance groups opposed to Indian rule of Kashmir have called for three days of mourning and a shutdown in the territory after the rebel commander's killing.

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