SRINAGAR: Three protesters were killed by security forces Friday in a day of violence in Indian Kashmir that also left 75 people injured, police and witnesses said.
The fatalities added to a string of deaths that have fuelled a rolling series of angry protests across the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley in the past two months.
At least 20 people are known to have died in the latest burst of violence which erupted when a 17-year-old boy was killed after being hit by a police tear gas shell in early June.
Many of those killed have been teenagers.
Witnesses said two men were shot on Friday when security forces opened fire on a demonstration in Sopore town, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar. Both died on the way to hospital.
"Both men had bullet wounds and were dead by the time they reached us," a doctor in Srinagar`s main hospital told AFP.
Police said the demonstrators tried to damage a railway track and also attacked paramilitary forces with stones.
However, locals said they were holding a peaceful protest after Friday prayers when troops fired at them.
The deaths brought thousands of people out onto the streets of Sopore and adjoining villages, residents said.
In neighbouring Patan town, angry protesters ransacked a police station and set part of it on fire. One person died when police opened fire on the crowd, a witness said.
Earlier in the day authorities imposed a strict curfew in Srinagar after security forces opened fire at stone-throwing protesters, injuring three people. One of the injured is in critical condition in hospital.
No prayers were held at the region`s main mosque, the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, for the fifth consecutive Friday as security forces had sealed off entrances to the Mughal-built mosque with coils of barbed wire.
However, residents were able to attend prayers in smaller local mosques.
More than 75 people, including ten policemen, were injured during Friday clashes between protesters and security forces across the Kashmir valley, police said, adding 10 protesters were hospitalised with bullet wounds.
Separatists had called for protests on Friday.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each rule part of Kashmir but lay claim to all of the Himalayan region.
A 20-year separatist insurgency on the Indian side has left thousands dead.
New Delhi has blamed separatists and militant groups for instigating the latest unrest, while many locals see it as a spontaneous reaction to abuses by security forces, economic stagnation and political deadlock.
The valley has been under strict curfew since the protests started in early June.
Some pro-India parties call for autonomy for the region, moderate separatists seek independence and hardliners continue to campaign for a merger with Pakistan.
BDST:0932 HRS, July 31, 2010
