SRINAGAR, India — Four police were killed Saturday when rebels fightingagainst Indian rule in disputed Kashmir detonated a bomb on a street theywere patrolling, police said.
Streets were deserted and shops and businesses closed when the massiveblast struck the northwestern town of Sopore, hitting the police patrol.The town, famous for apple orchards, is observing a shutdown on the 25thanniversary of a massacre when government forces killed at least 47 peopleafter a paramilitary soldier died in a rebel attack.
The strike was called by separatist leaders who challenge India’ssovereignty over Kashmir. The town was already on high alert with hundredsof police and paramilitary soldiers patrolling the area in anticipation ofanti-India protests and clashes.
Police said at least half a dozen shuttered shops suffered extensive damagein the blast that was remotely detonated.
The Jash-e-Mohammed group claimed responsibility for the attack, accordingto the English-language Greater Kashmir newspaper.
Reinforcements of police and paramilitary soldiers rushed to seal off thearea.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir,but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Rebel groups demandthat Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independentcountry. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, whichPakistan denies.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the region, and most people support therebels’ cause against Indian rule while also participating in civilianstreet protests against Indian control.
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuingIndian military crackdown since 1989.