Two soldiers killed in curfew-hit Kashmir

Two Indian soldiers were killed in a gunbattle with suspected rebels on Thursday, the military said, as parts of Kashmir region remained under curfew.

The gun battle erupted along the Line of Control that splits Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan after soldiers engaged a group of infiltrating militants, an Indian army spokesman J S Brar said.

The latest fighting was reported from northern Machil sector. On Tuesday five suspected rebels and three soldiers were killed in a similar gun battle.

Elsewhere in Kashmir, Indian troops continued to enforce a strict curfew in parts of the region as tensions remained high after the killing of 11 protestors by security forces during demonstrations this month.

Dozens of women demonstrators, led by the region’s leading female separatist Asiya Andrabi, defied the strict security lockdown in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar and staged a noisy anti-India rally.

The women later dispersed after police tried to block the rally.

Later, dozens of young men present at the scene hurled stones at the police, sparking a clash that left six protesters and three policemen injured.

Hardline separatists had called upon women to march to a revered mosque on Thursday but authorities sealed neighbourhoods and deployed thousands of troops, including women police, to block them.

Police said strict curfew continued in northern town of Sopore for the seventh day running and in southern Anantnag town for the third day.

Thousands of police and paramilitary forces also continued to enforce a security lockdown in the northern town of Baramulla, police said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2010.