Kashmir protest over deadly accident near Srinagar
- 16 July 2014
- From the section India
An army vehicle has crashed into a taxi in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing six people and triggering violent protests, police say.
Wednesday morning's accident took place on a highway near the city of Srinagar.
Eyewitnesses said the army vehicle was speeding and hit the taxi when it crossed over to the other side of the road to overtake another vehicle.
Large numbers of security personnel are deployed in Kashmir, where anti-India and anti-military sentiments run high.
The region has been in the grip of an anti-India insurgency since 1989. In recent years violence has abated from its peak in the 1990s, but the causes of the insurgency remain far from resolved.
Wednesday's crash took place on the Srinagar-Baramullah highway, police said, adding that three people died on the spot while three others succumbed to their wounds in hospital.
The accident triggered massive protests in the area, BBC Urdu's Riyaz Masroor reports from Srinagar.
The protesters threw stones at the security forces and tried to set fire to the army vehicle. The troops then fired in the air to disperse them. At least two people were injured.
Senior Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a strike on Thursday to protest against the accident.
Meanwhile, in the state's Jammu region, a soldier of the paramilitary Border Security Force was killed and three others were injured in firing from across the border in Pakistan.
Pakistani troops carried out "unprovoked firing at Indian posts", police said. There has been no comment from Pakistan yet.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both countries claim it in its entirety.