*SRINAGAR: Sixteen people have been killed in Indian-held Kashmir in someof the fiercest fighting this year in the region, police said Sunday, asauthorities braced for more violence.*

A total of three Indian soldiers and 11 suspected militants died in severalclashes south of Srinagar.

Two civilians were also killed and dozens injured when police opened fireon thousands of demonstrators who poured onto the streets, throwing stonesand chanting slogans against Indian rule.

There were also demonstrations in Srinagar, where authorities ordered allschools shut on Monday as rebel groups called for protests.

Seven of the militants were killed along with two soldiers in a protractedshootout in the village of Dragad, where helicopters were seen swooping lowover the battle zone.

Another man, described by Indian authorities as a militant, was gunned downin a brief exchange of fire in Dialgam.

Security forces were still taking fire from gunmen in the village ofKachdora, where one soldier and three insurgents had been killed, localpolice chief Shesh Paul Vaid told AFP.

“It is a massive operation. The fight is still on,” inspector-general ofpolice Swayam Prakash Pani told AFP.

Pakistan condemned the violence as a “mindless killing spree” and saidthose slaughtered were innocents.

“Such cowardly actions of the occupying forces only serve to fortify theresolve of the Kashmiri people,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in astatement Sunday.

Last year was the deadliest of this decade in the region, with more than200 alleged militants killed in a counter-insurgency offensive dubbed“Operation All Out”.

That upsurge in violence has escalated in 2018, with 49 militants alreadykilled this year. – APP / AFP