Al-zakir
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SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Government forces fired warning shots and tear gas Saturday as hundreds of Kashmiris again protested the deaths of two young women they claim were raped and killed by Indian soldiers.
Protests first erupted a week ago after the bodies of a 17-year old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law were found in a shallow stream south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-held Kashmir.
Unrest since last Saturday has left one person dead and another 400 injured, and separatist groups called a general strike on Monday, which has shuttered businesses, government offices and schools across the Kashmir Valley.
Despite a heavy deployment of armed troops in riot gear and a government order banning protests, demonstrators took to the streets in at least half a dozen places in Srinagar on Saturday, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
The officer said clashes erupted and troops fired live ammunition into the air and tear gas to disperse the protesters. No injuries were immediately reported, he said.
Clashes between security forces and protesters were also reported in four other towns in the Indian-controlled portioned of the Himalayan region.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority territory divided between India and Pakistan.
Human rights groups and separatist leaders have long accused the Indian military of using rape and sexual molestation to intimidate the local population as it wages a 20-year battle against separatist insurgents.
The Indian military as well as paramilitary forces have not responded to the allegations that their troops raped and killed the two women whose deaths have sparked the latest protests.
The state government ordered a judicial probe into the deaths, but protests have continued. Rights groups say such probes rarely yield results and are often meant only to calm public anger.
Hundreds of Kashmiris protest women's deaths