Protests erupt following Kashmir gun battle

Hundreds of angry protesters marched in a town in the Indian controlled-portion of Kashmir today after two civilians were killed in a gun battle between Islamic militants and army soldiers.

Four soldiers and three civilians were also wounded in the fighting.

The clash started when the militants fired on an army convoy driving through the town of Sopore, 30 miles north of the area's capital, Srinagar, said police officer Imtyaz Hussain.

Two civilians died in the crossfire, Hussain said.

Protests broke out in the town with residents alleging that the army targeted civilians after the rebel attack. The protesters shouted anti-India slogans.

Police tried to stop the protesters which led to a scuffle, but no one was reported injured in that incident. Police later fired tear gas to disperse the mob.

Colonel Hemant Juneja, an army spokesman in Srinagar, insisted that the civilians died in crossfire. "It was a retaliation to the militant firing," Juneja said.

Anti-India sentiment runs high in Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, where many favour independence from mostly Hindu India.

More than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting security forces in India's portion of Kashmir for the region's independence, or its merger with Pakistan. The 17-year conflict has killed at least 68,000 people, most of them civilians.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan, but both countries claim all of it and have fought two wars over its control since their independence from Britain in 1947.