SRINAGAR: Indian security forces on Friday shot at and fired tear gas at anti-India protesters who broke from a funeral procession of a suspected insurgent killed in India-held Kashmir.

Police said at least two people suffered serious bullet wounds in the violence as thousands of protesters waved Pakistani flags and chanted "Down with India" and "We want freedom."

The protesters hurled stones at Indian government forces in at least three places in the village of Kakpora, 35 kilometres south of Srinagar.

Indian forces had killed the suspected insurgent on Thursday, senior police officer Nitesh Kumar said.

Rebel groups have been fighting against Indian forces in Kashmir since 1989, and more than 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting and the subsequent military crackdown in the volatile valley.

Read more: Two Indian soldiers, one suspected rebel killed in ambush in India-held Kashmir

The latest clashes erupted on Thursday as Indian police and paramilitary soldiers cordoned off the village following an intelligence tip-off that some rebels had taken refuge there.

A gun battle between the two sides killed Talib Shah, who is alleged by the Indians to be a local commander of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, said Kumar. Two other suspected insurgents managed to flee.

Anti-India protests resumed on Friday after government handed over Shah's body to his relatives.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani foreign ministry official rejected as "totally baseless" Indian media's reports that an insurgent arrested in Indian-held Kashmir on Wednesday was a Pakistani national. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to reporters.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah added on Thursday, "We expect Indian authorities to share necessary information with us."

India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament that the arrested man had told Indian investigators that he was from Faisalabad, in Pakistan.

Read more: Kashmiri leader waves Pakistani flag at rally in Srinagar

Opinion

Editorial

Growth to stability
Updated 29 Apr, 2026

Growth to stability

THE State Bank’s decision to raise its key policy rate by 100 basis points to 11.5pc signals a shift in priorities...
Constitutional order
29 Apr, 2026

Constitutional order

FOLLOWING the passage of the 26th and 27th Amendments, in 2024 and 2025 respectively, jurists and members of the...
Protecting childhood
29 Apr, 2026

Protecting childhood

AN important victory for child protection was secured on Monday with the Punjab Assembly’s passage of the Child...
Unlearnt lessons
Updated 28 Apr, 2026

Unlearnt lessons

THE US is undoubtedly the world’s top military and economic power at this time. Yet as the Iran quagmire has ...
Solar vision?
28 Apr, 2026

Solar vision?

THE recent imposition of certain regulatory requirements for small-scale solar systems, followed by the reversal of...
Breaking malaria’s grip
28 Apr, 2026

Breaking malaria’s grip

FOR the first time in decades, defeating malaria in our lifetime is possible, according to WHO. Yet in Pakistan,...