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INDIA-KASHMIR-UNREST-POLITICS
Two killed, seven injured in Kashmir grenade attacks: police
SRINAGAR, India, Nov 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – At least two people were killed
in grenade attacks in Kashmir on Tuesday and two militants shot dead by
Indian forces, officials said, in one of the region’s most violent days since
New Delhi imposed a security clampdown.
The Indian government shut down internet and phone lines and flooded the
Muslim-majority region with security forces to back its August 5 move to
strip Kashmir of its autonomous status and impose tighter central control.
Amid heightened tensions, suspected militants staged two grenade attacks on
Tuesday, a top police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
One was thrown at a group of village councillors and government officials
waiting outside an administration building in the village of Hakura, south of
the main city of Srinagar.
The police official said two people were killed and at least four injured.
The second grenade was lobbed into a store next to an entrance to the
University of Kashmir in Srinagar, injuring three people, the official added.
The attacks were the worst on one day since the clampdown — which has been
gradually eased by India — started. A grenade attack in early November
killed one person.
The government has insisted that “normalcy” is returning to Kashmir, but
locals are still cut off from the internet and dozens of political leaders
remain in detention.
Food shops are only open for a few hours each day and no public buses and
taxis have operated since the clampdown. Protests are held regularly.
India has accused neighbouring Pakistan, which also claims Kashmir, of
sending fighters across their unofficial border and security forces have
stepped up operations against militants.
A military spokesman said two rebels were killed in a siege in the Pulwama
district on Monday and Tuesday. Media reports said both were Kashmiris.
Indian and Pakistan have disputed the mountainous region since they became
independent and split in 1947.
Kashmir has been divided between them since then and the rivals have fought
two of their three wars over the Himalayan region.
An insurgency that erupted in Indian Kashmir in 1989 has claimed tens of
thousands of mainly civilian lives.
Kashmir’s special status had previously prevented people from outside the
region from buying land or getting government jobs there.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1907 hrs