One person was killed and 22 were wounded in Indian Kashmir today when Indian troops clashed with demonstrators, police and witnesses said.
The disputed Himalayan region has seen some of the biggest pro-independence demonstrations in the past two months since a separatist revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989.
Police said several thousand people shouting "we want freedom" and "down with security forces" took to the streets in Baramulla, north of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. Many later threw stones at the police and government vehicles.
"To disperse violent demonstrators police had to open fire," said a police officer who declined to be named.
The protests, which have become an embarrassment for New Delhi, come at a time when violence between Indian troops and separatist militants had declined significantly after India and Pakistan, which both claim the region, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.
Police have arrested scores of people who took part in pro-independence rallies ahead of state elections due to start on November 17th.
Kashmiri separatists have called for a boycott of the polls, scheduled to be held in seven phases.
"Elections are futile and an irrelevant exercise as these offer no solution to Kashmir conflict," Sajjad Lone, a separatist leader said.
There had been pressure to suspend the elections after at least 42 people were killed by security forces and more than 1,000 wounded in anti-India protests.
Officials say more than 43,000 people have been killed in Kashmir in nearly two decades of violence between Indian troops and Muslim militants. Human rights groups put the toll at 60,000.
Reuters