Protester killed in Indian Kashmir demonstration

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Stuart Law

SRINAGAR, June 28 (AFP): A separatist protester in Indian Kashmir was killed and several others wounded Monday when security forces opened fire to disperse a violent demonstration, police said.
Security forces fired when protesters tried to demolish a paramilitary bunker near Sopore town, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar, a police officer who declined to be named told AFP.
"They fired in self-defence," he said, adding that a 22-year-old Muslim man was killed and three others injured.
Sopore has been under curfew since Friday after two young men died when soldiers opened fire as protesters attacked their vehicle.
Violence has risen in recent months in Muslim-majority Indian Kashmir, where two decades of rebellion against rule from New Delhi have left thousands dead.
Authorities have closed all schools and colleges in the Kashmir valley for two days in an attempt to thwart the escalating public unrest.
Separatist groups had called on Muslim students to hold protest rallies on Monday and Tuesday against Indian rule.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each rule part of Kashmir but lay claim to all of the Himalayan region.