SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — Fresh violence hit Indian Kashmir on Wednesday as thousands of Muslims shouting anti-India slogans took to the streets to bury victims of two days of deadly protests in the revolt-hit area.
Thousands chanting "Indian troops go home" and "we will spill blood for blood" poured onto the streets of Srinagar to join funeral processions for two Muslims who died of wounds in hospital early Wednesday.
The main city in the Kashmir valley also saw more large demonstrations and gunfire, although Indian security forces eased a total curfew for a few hours so residents could stock up on food and other supplies.
Officials said the toll from protests in the disputed Himalayan region on Monday and Tuesday, which were met with police and army gunfire, stood at 21 dead -- all of them Muslims -- and at least 500 injured.
There was less violence across Kashmir Wednesday than during the two previous days, the region's police chief Kuldeep Khuda told reporters.
Twelve people were hurt, three critically, in Pulwana district, south of summer capital Srinagar, when police opened fire on stone-hurling demonstrators.
Eight others were wounded, one critically, when police fired at stone-throwing protesters in Srinagar, doctors said, while demonstrators torched state buildings and vehicles.
Demonstrators also destroyed security bunkers, beat up off-duty policemen and set ablaze two police motorcycles.
The violence triggered by a Hindu-Muslim land dispute has polarised the state along religious lines and led to some of the deadliest clashes since the revolt against New Delhi's rule erupted.
It has also fanned fears communal tensions could spread beyond Kashmir.
Among those gunned down by security forces on Monday was a prominent moderate separatist leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was leading a protest near the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Two veteran separatist leaders, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani, have called for "non-violent protest demonstrations" to continue.
"We call upon the nation to observe three days of mourning and hold peaceful demonstrations," Farooq said.
He also called on Kashmiris to observe August 15, India's Independence Day, as a "black day."
The unrest, triggered by a Kashmir government decision in June to donate local land to a Hindu pilgrimage trust, shattered several years of relative calm brought about by the India-Pakistan peace process.
Authorities cancelled the land transfer after deadly protests, but that sparked riots in the Hindu-dominated south of Jammu and Kashmir state, with Hindu hardliners attacking Muslims and seeking to block the only road to the valley.
Officials appealed for calm in the heavily militarised region.
"I request you all to support the efforts of the administration in maintaining peace," state governor N.N. Vohra said.
He said security forces were ensuring the supply of essential goods to the valley and police were escorting all convoys on the national highway.
Residents say the protests have highlighted a growing frustration among Kashmiris that the peace process, launched in 2004, has yielded no progress on the dispute over the future of the region.
The dialogue was to address all issues of contention, including the status of Kashmir -- which each country holds in part but claims in full.
But on-off negotiations between the two nuclear-armed rivals have remained bogged down in mutual recriminations over cross-border militancy and terror attacks.
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