Anti-India clashes erupt after troops kill 3 Kashmir rebels

Anti-India clashes erupted between government forces and local residents of a village in disputed Kashmir on Friday following a gun battle in which troops killed three suspected militants, police and residents said.

The gunfight erupted shortly after scores of counterinsurgency police and soldiers launched an operation based on a tip about the presence of militants in Kakpora village in southern Pulwama district, police said.

Police said two of the three slain militants had been involved in fatally shooting a policeman guarding the home of a local politician from India's ruling party in the region's main city on Thursday and that troops recovered two rifles and a pistol from the site of Friday's clash.

Residents said troops used explosives to blast a civilian house during the fighting, a common anti-militancy tactic employed by Indian troops in Kashmir.

As the fighting raged, hundreds of people marched nearby in solidarity with the rebels while chanting slogans seeking the end of Indian rule over the region.

Government forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas at the stone-throwing protesters.

At least four civilians were injured in the clashes, including a woman with a bullet injury in her leg.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and is claimed by both in its entirety.