Protesters Clash With Police in Kashmir

Kashmiri women shout "Indian Soldiers Go Back" during the funeral procession of Inayatullah Bhat, a Kashmiri civilian killed by paramilitary soldiers on Friday, in Srinagar, India, Saturday, July 1, 2006. Hundreds of residents angered with the killing of Bhat, who was fatally shot as he was closing his shop on Friday evening, clashed with police as they staged demonstrations Saturday in this Kashmir city. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool) (Rafiq Maqbool - AP)

SRINAGAR, India -- Hundreds of angry residents clashed with police during demonstrations Saturday in this Kashmir city to protest the killing of a civilian by paramilitary police a day earlier.

At least six police officers were wounded, witnesses said.

Police fired tear gas and bullets into the air to disperse the protesters, who blocked traffic and hurled stones at security patrols.

The protesters were angered by the killing of Inayatullah Bhat _ who was fatally shot as he was closing his shop Friday in the Khanyar neighborhood of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

Resident Mohammed Aslam told The Associated Press that he saw Bhat being dragged by some men from the Central Reserve Police Force, who then shot him. But CRPF spokesman Dilip Singh said police fired at Bhat because they suspected he was a suicide attacker.

The incident occurred during a routine security blockade of a road passing through the Khanyar area. The road is usually closed to0 traffic during the evening when security forces from different parts of the city return to camps in the area.

Singh said security forces spotted Bhat running in a suspicious manner on that road and ordered him to stop. But he ignored the instruction, forcing a CRPF patrol to shoot him. Singh said the CRPF has ordered an investigation into the incident.

But angry residents demanded immediate action against the police who shot Bhat.

Meanwhile, at least three suspected Islamic militants were killed in a gun battle in a southern district of the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, police office S.P. Pani said. The militants were hiding in the village of Mirhama, 40 miles south of Srinagar, Pani said.

More than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Muslim-majority Kashmir's independence from predominantly Hindu India or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan. The conflict has killed more than 67,000 people, mostly civilians.

India accuses longtime rival Pakistan of training, arming and funding the militants. Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only offers the rebels diplomatic and moral support.

A cease-fire line divides Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbor countries, who have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory since their independence from Britain in 1947.