August 27, 2008	Wednesday	Sha'aban 24, 1429

SRINAGAR, Aug 26: Indian police beat Kashmiri protesters who defied a curfew on Tuesday and troops searched for separatist leaders as the biggest anti-India protests in two decades showed no sign of abating.

Authorities said they had detained four Kashmiri leaders since Monday. They raided the homes of dozens of leaders in a sweep that began on Monday night.

Asiya Andrabi, chief of Dukhtaran-i-Milat, who led series of anti-India protests over the past two weeks was detained late on Tuesday, police said.

Police on Monday killed five protesters who defied the curfew, bringing the death toll to at least 28 in the biggest demonstrations since an uprising against Indian rule by the region’s Muslim majority began in 1989.

The Indian government claimed its security forces had been fired upon by protesters on several occasions, questioning statements of Kashmiri leaders that their protests were peaceful.

The government also disputed whether Sheikh Aziz, a senior Kashmir freedom movement leader, was killed by police gunfire, saying someone among the crowd of protesters could have shot him.

More than 600 people have been injured in clashes over the past two weeks of protests. The state, whose tourist brochures proclaim the Kashmir valley as “paradise on earth”, has suffered more than $1 billion in lost business.

Police used tear gas and beat hundreds of protesters with batons for defying the curfew in the Achabal area, about 100 km south of Srinagar, police said.

Residents in Kashmir stayed indoors as the military extended the curfew for a third day. Authorities blocked four local television channels from broadcasting on Sunday.

The crisis has strained relations between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region in full but rule in parts.

—Agencies