SRINAGAR, India, March 13 (AFP) - Indian police in Kashmir have torched more than 20 shops in retaliation for the shooting of one of their colleagues by Muslim fighters, local residents said Monday.
The policemen, all members of the counter-independence Special Operations Group (SOG), set fire to five buildings that house two dozens shops overnight Sunday in the town of Patan, 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Kashmiri summer capital
Srinagar.
The violent reprisals came after Muslims opened fire on an SOG patrol in Patan, killing one policeman, Mushtaq Ahmed, and injuring another.
Reinforcements from a nearby police station rushed to the scene and began beating local residents and torching buildings, eyewitnesses said.
One police official said senior police officers had been sent to Patan to calm the situation down.
Shops and small business in Patan closed their shutters Monday to protest against the police action.
Similar reprisals were carried out last month after a policeman was killed by Muslims in a sneak attack near Srinagar's main commercial center, Lal Chowk.
More than 25,000 people have been killed in the war of independence in Kashmir since 1989, when Muslims launched an armed battle against Indian rule in the Muslim-majority state.
