Kashmir strife turns bloody as troops kill seven civilians

SRINAGAR, India — Indian forces who were exchanging fire with insurgents in disputed Kashmir on Saturday fatally shot at least seven civilians when large crowds descended on the site of the gunbattle in support of the militants, police and residents said.

Residents accused troops of directly spraying gunfire into the crowds. Police said in a statement they regretted the killings but that the protesters had come “dangerously close” to the fighting.

Separatists who challenge India’s sovereignty over Kashmir said the killings were part of India’s state policy and called for three days of mourning and a general shutdown in Kashmir. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a separatist leader, said in a tweet that India’s government should “stop this inhumanity as it will not achieve anything except further rebellion and hatred.”

The violence started as troops surrounded a village in the southern Pulwama area on a tip that militants were hiding there. Gunmen jumped out of a civilian home and took positions in an apple orchard while firing at soldiers and counterinsurgency police, said Muneer Ahmed Khan, a top police officer.

Three rebels and a soldier were killed and another soldier wounded in the exchange of gunfire, he said.

At the same time, hundreds of people chanting pro-militant slogans and calling for an end to Indian rule over the Himalayan region began throwing stones at troops to help the militants escape. Government forces fired bullets, shotgun pellets and tear gas to stop them, killing seven and injuring at least 40, police said.