SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Seven people have been killed in new violence in Kashmir, police said, as protests raged against the alleged rape by Indian troops of a 12-year-old Muslim girl and her Muslim mother.
A police spokesman said a Muslim woman was killed and four civilians injured in a bomb blast in northern Kupwara district Tuesday, while three militants and a policeman died elsewhere in three separate clashes.
The violence followed an overnight attack by several gunmen, believed to be Muslim militants, on the house of Abdul Rashid, a member of India's ruling Congress party.
A guard and a civilian died but Rashid was not at the house in the central district of Budgam at the time. The militants stole three rifles from other guards before fleeing.
Rebels opposed to Indian rule often target pro-Indian politicians and others seen as collaborating with the New Delhi government.
Several hundred university students meanwhile held an anti-government demonstration in the state's summer capital Srinagar to protest the alleged rape by troops of the girl and her mother, witnesses said.
The army has denied the alleged rape, reported late Saturday near the northern town of Handwara. The state government is investigating.
Police fired teargas and shots in the air to disperse the students, who had chanted slogans such as "Punish the guilty" and "Down with government."
In Handwara residents who have been staging protests since the alleged incident took to the streets in their hundreds again Tuesday, prompting police to fire over their heads.
Angry crowds threw stones at a motorcade of Mehbooba Mufti, daughter of state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, when she visited Handwara Tuesday, witnesses said.
In New Delhi, Indian army chief General N. C. Vij said he was handling the rape probe.
Vij "has directed the investigations in the alleged rape case be completed within one week and any individual, if found guilty be expeditiously dealt with," his office said in a statement.
The army meanwhile said 47 suspected Islamic guerrillas gave up their guns at a military function.
"The pressure of operations by security forces coupled with disillusionment with jihad were cited reasons for coming over-ground and joining the new mainstream," the army said in a statement faxed to AFP.
Kashmir is in the grip of a 15-year-old insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people by official count. Separatists put the figure at between 80,000 and 100,000.
11/09/2004 - 19:21 GMT - AFP