ISLAMABAD – At least 50 people were injured in clashes in Indian Kashmir onWednesday as protestors helped rebels escape a siege by government forces,police and hospital authorities said.
While protests in support of the surrounded rebels have increased on theIndian side of the divided territory in recent years, it is rare forinsurgents to escape.
Militant groups fighting the 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed there demandindependence or a merger with Pakistan.
Thousands of villagers poured onto roads Wednesday as two suspected rebelsfought a gun battle with soldiers from inside a house in the Kulgam area insouthern Kashmir.
Protesters pelted government forces with stones to give the fighters coverto escape, they said.
Fifty people were taken to a local hospital after government forces firedshotgun pellets and live bullets to push the protestors back, witnesses andhospital officials told AFP.
“The house was blown up but the militants escaped in the confusion. No deadbodies were found in the debris,” a top police officer told AFP oncondition of anonymity.
The officer said however that only three people were injured, one with abullet and two with pellets in their eyes.
Read Top Stories
“Scratches cannot be considered injuries,” he said, to explain thediscrepancy in numbers.
Clashes between rebels fighting Indian rule in Kashmir and governmentforces occur almost daily. More than 90 militants have been killed so farthis year.
Residents from nearby villages often throng the streets to help rebels byhurling stones at Indian soldiers.
Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan after their independence in1947.
Tens of thousands have died in an uprising launched three decades ago, mostof them civilians. -APP/AFP