SRINAGAR: Gunmen attacked a paramilitary convoy in restive Indian-held Kashmir Saturday, killing two troops before entering a government-run training institute with 100 people inside, police said.
The gunmen assaulted a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy before paramilitaries engaged them in a firefight in the complex on the outskirts of Srinagar.
“Two CRPF personnel died in the initial assault on the convoy and ten others were injured,” Javaid Gillani, inspector general of police for the region told a foreign news agency, adding that gunmen then entered the complex.
“All the civilians present inside the building have been evacuated,” Gillani said. Witnesses said three armed men entered the complex, which houses the government-run Entrepreneurship Development Institute on the outskirts of the main city of Srinagar.
They said the gunmen asked everyone inside to “save themselves” and move to a nearby hostel on the campus.
“They (gunmen) barged into the reception area as CRPF soldiers were firing towards them. They asked everyone to save themselves and go to the next building,” a witness who worked at the institute said, asking to remain anonymous.
Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since the two countries became independent in 1947, but both claim the territory in full.
The region largely shut down last Monday as a general strike was called to protest against the killing of two civilians during a gun battle between troops and suspected separatist militants. Authorities also imposed a curfew in parts of Srinagar, where hundreds of police and paramilitary troops patrolled deserted streets and erected checkpoints to halt any protests.
Since 1989, several rebel groups have been fighting Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding either independence or a merger of the region with Pakistan.
The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.
Kashmiris hold anti India rally in Srinagar
Meanwhile, Kashmiris staged forceful anti-India demonstrations in Srinagar after the arrest of youth by Indian police.
According to KMS, witnesses said that people took to streets at Nawa Kadal in Srinagar, staged demonstrations after the detention of the youth in the area. The police fired teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators, triggering clashes between the protesters and the police. The shopkeepers also downed their shutters to protest the detention.
Demonstrations were also held in Nowhatta, Gojwara, Safa Kadal and Rajouri Kadal areas of the city against the crackdown by Delhi police on the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University for raising the Kashmir issue in the campus. They chanted pro-freedom and anti-India slogans.