Indian forces enforce curfew in Kashmir

PanARMENIAN.Net - Indian forces fired warning shots Saturday, Aug 10, to enforce a curfew and to push angry people back into their homes in a town in the Indian portion of Kashmir where clashes between Muslims and Hindus during Eid celebrations killed at least two people and injured another 24, according to The Associated Press.

State director-general of police Ashok Prasad said the situation was tense, although no fresh violence was reported Saturday.

Troops in armored vehicles drove through the streets of Kishtwar, a town 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where rival groups attacked each other on Friday with firearms, stones and sticks.

Scores of shops, two hotels and one gas station were set on fire by the mobs, police said.

The trouble erupted Friday after Hindus objected to Muslims shouting pro-independence slogans on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which caps the fasting month of Ramadan.

Anti-India feelings run deep in Kashmir, where about a dozen rebel groups have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.