Another person killed in Kashmir unrest

One person has been killed and five others injured in clashes between Indian paramilitary forces and angry protesters in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Clashes erupted in the central district of Budgam on Friday morning as hundreds of people took to streets in Churpora village of Beerwah town — 32 km (20 miles) from Srinagar — and held an anti-India demonstration.

Protesters were chanting pro-independence slogans and throwing stones, the Times of India reported.

Security forces opened fire in return, injuring dozens of protestors. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital where one of them, identified as Fayaz Ahmad Dar, succumbed to his gunshot injuries.

The fresh protests came as a curfew remains in force in Srinagar and other major towns of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir for the fifth consecutive day.

Over the past months, Kashmir has witnessed protests against Indian rule triggered by recent killings blamed on government forces.

Civil protest against Indian rule in Kashmir has kept the disputed Himalayan region in turmoil for the past three months, killing several people. New Delhi’s refusal to send a word of apology over the slayings, as well as the reluctance shown by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order an end to shootings, has added to the anger of protestors.