A Kashmiri Muslim villager shouts for help as they arrive with those injured in clashes for treatment at a hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, July 10, 2016.
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The entire Kashmir is seething with rage as people have drawn out in large numbers on the roads to protest the extrajudicial killing of the Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani by Indian forces.
(AP Photo/Dar Yasin) SRINAGAR, India: Four days of deadly clashes between anti-India protesters and government troops have left hospitals in India’s portion of Kashmir overwhelmed, with hundreds of wounded patients pouring in, doctors said Wednesday.
A total of 31 civilians and a policeman have been killed since the weekend in the clashes in Kashmir Valley, in the worst civilian unrest to hit the region since 2010, when 110 people were killed in anti-India protests after Indian police killed a teenager.
Authorities imposed a 24-hour hour curfew, but still protesters attacked military and paramilitary installations, burned several police stations and some homes belonging to police and pro-India politicians.
While more than 1,300 people have been injured in the violence, more than 250 have been referred to hospitals in Srinagar for treatment of their injuries.
The separatist groups, earlier, had called for a one-day strike following Wani s killing and extended it further to protest the killings of civilians in firing, allegedly by security forces.
Most shops were shuttered, businesses were closed, and cellphone and mobile internet services were suspended in parts of the region.
India maintains over half a million soldiers in IHK.
Inspector-General Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani described Wani’s killing as the “biggest success against militants” in recent years. “We condemn the actions by the forces targeting the civilians above abdomen as is evidenced in the cases of those killed and those who have suffered injuries”, he said.
On the Indian side, numerous 12 million residents resent the Indian troop presence and back rebel demands for independence or a merger with neighboring Pakistan.
India asked Pakistan to worry more about human rights abuses in parts of Kashmir it controls.
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US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby voiced concerns over the ongoing violence in the Indian-held Kashmir, where Indian troops killed at least 30 locals.
