Anti-India rebels clash with police

Hundreds of anti-India protesters clashed with police and paramilitary soldiers after Friday prayers despite a rigid curfew being re-imposed in most of Kashmir following weeks of unrest that has killed 15 people.

Worshippers were not allowed to attend prayers at Srinagar's main Jamia mosque for a third successive Friday, but authorities did not stop residents from attending prayers at smaller local mosques in the disputed Himalayan region's main city.

People who attended Friday prayers at mosques joined anti-India protests afterward. Hundreds threw rocks at police and paramilitary soldiers who then fired tear gas.

The mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong, has been under a rolling curfew for the past three weeks after clashes surged.

The tension in the region - divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both - is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule sparked an armed conflict that has killed more than 68,000 people, mostly civilians. Separatist politicians and militants want to carve out a separate homeland or merge with Pakistan.

On Friday, thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers - dressed in riot gear and armed with assault rifles - patrolled Srinagar, the main city in the Indian-held Kashmir. They asked people to stay at home, said Javaid Ahmed, a local resident.

The government decision followed a call for protests by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the region's main grouping of separatist parties.