Troops fire at anti-India protesters in Kashmir killing three people

Indian police and medics say two young men and a teenage girl were killed in disputed Kashmir region when government forces fired at anti-India protesters who disrupted a military-led operation against rebels.

Police said that as soldiers and counterinsurgency police launched a cordon and search operation in southern Redwani village on Saturday, hundreds of villagers confronted them by chanting anti-India slogans and throwing stones.

Residents said soldiers fired live ammunition, shotgun pellets and tear gas to quell the protests, wounding several people.

Medics said three injured died at a hospital.

The news of the deaths brought more residents to the streets seeking the end of Indian rule over Kashmir.

Decades-old conflict

Anti-India sentiments run deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir which has been divided between Pakistan and India since 1947, with both nations claiming the region entirely.

Over two dozen rebel groups have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989, demanding the Himalayan region be united under Pakistani control or as an independent country. 

India, which has stationed over half a million troops in the region, accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, which Islamabad denies. 

Pakistan says it only gives moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris and that the dispute must be settled according to several UN resolutions on the dispute. 

Nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.