2 dead in clashes amid Kashmir curfew

Violence continued to rage across Indian Kashmir yesterday with two people shot dead and five wounded after police in two towns opened fire on protesters who attacked their camps and pelted them with rocks.
An indefinite curfew was ordered a day after four people were killed and another 80 wounded as government forces fired on thousands of protesters across the troubled region.
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.
The mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong, has spent most of the past six weeks under curfew following violent street demonstrations by Kashmiri Muslims and strikes ordered by separatist groups.
Six deaths in two days raised the number of people killed in clashes to 23 in the past six weeks.
Thousands defied the curfew Saturday to protest, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. At least 10 people were wounded, he said.
Demonstrators attacked a police camp in Naidkhai, a village 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the main city Srinagar, and officers responded with gunfire, killing one and wounding another three, the officer said.