Teenage protester killed in fresh protests in Kashmir

Rasa - Indian forces have shot dead a teenager in Kashmir in fresh clashes between protesters and New Delhi forces in the disputed Himalayan region.

News ID: 423124

Date: 31 August 2016 - 23:34

RNA - Police said the young man was killed on Wednesday when paramilitary troops fired live rounds at protesters in the northern village of Nadihal.

"The boy died in the firing. Five other protesters also received bullet injuries," AFP quoted an unnamed police officer as saying.

Locals residents said the boy was aged 18.

Fierce clashes erupted after residents demonstrated against an earlier raid by soldiers searching for protest leaders in the violence-hit region.

Protesters also clashed with troops in other areas of the region including the main city of Srinagar.

Indian forces fired live ammunition, shotguns and tear gas in the southern town of Anantnag at protesters who responded by hurling stones. Dozens of civilians were injured in the latest fierce clashes.

"We have reports about 50 protesters were injured in Anantnag, mostly with pellets," another senior police officer said.

A fresh round of anti-India protests has erupted across the Muslim-majority region after authorities lifted a curfew for the first time in 54 days. However, shops and schools are still closed due to a strike called by the region’s independence leaders.

The curfew was declared following large protests against Indian rule, triggered by the killing of Burhan Wani, a popular pro-independence fighter, by Indian forces on July 8.

Nearly 70 people in Kashmir have been killed and thousands more injured, mostly by government forces, in a crackdown since early July, when tension escalated in the region.

There are an estimated 500,000 Indian troops currently deployed in the restive territory.

Since India and Pakistan won independence from British rule in 1947, they have been claiming Kashmir in full but have only partial control over it. Thousands of people have been killed in the unrest in Kashmir since early 1990s.

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