Rebels shoot three amid protests in Kashmir

Srinagar: Suspected rebels shot and killed three people in volatile Kashmir, including a mother and her teenage daughter, police said yesterday as protests continued against Indian rule over region.

Masked militants barged into a house in Nandimarg, a remote village south of the main city of Srinagar, late Sunday and opened fire, killing the woman and her 15-year old daughter, a police statement said.

The target of the attack was Sirajuddin Gorsi, who jumped from a window and escaped, said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Gorsi may have been targeted for his alleged links with the Indian army, the officer said. Police said the victims were his sister and niece.

Separately, suspected militants killed an activist of the state's ruling National Conference party in neighbouring Pulwama district late Sunday, the officer said.

Militants often target people whom they suspect of acting as police informers or having links with the army and security forces in Kashmir.

No militant groups fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir have claimed responsibility for the killings, nor were there any immediate independent versions of the incidents.

Local people have protested against the killings in the fasting month of Ramadan, the police statement issued in Srinagar said.

Meanwhile, a young man wounded in a firing by paramilitary soldiers in northern Singhpora village last week died in a hospital yesterday taking to 63 the death toll in two months of anti-India unrest in Kashmir.

As the body of the man was brought to his village, thousands of residents chanting pro-independence slogans gathered in Singhpora and participated in the funeral procession of the man.

There were sporadic but peaceful anti-India protests in different places yesterday although parts of Srinagar and other major towns were under curfew.

However, in Soura neighbourhood of Srinagar, hundreds of people defied curfew and protested against Indian rule.