Government forces arrested over 60 suspected separatist activists across Indian Kashmir in an attempt to stem deadly civil unrest that has continued despite a curfew that was in its third day, police said Friday.
The arrests, carried out during overnight raids by police and paramilitary soldiers, were designed to put a lid on nearly three weeks of violent anti-India protests in which at least 15 people have died. Residents blame security forces for the deaths.
At least 30 separatist activists who had participated in recent street demonstrations were arrested in Anantnag, 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
He said at least 30 others were arrested in Srinagar and other towns in Kashmir.
Tens of thousands of troops patrolled the region's streets, while shops and schools were closed. Streets ringed with barbed wire were deserted, and the region's nearly 60 newspapers were unable to publish for a second day Friday.
Despite the curfew, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organization of separatist groups, called for more protests.
The tension in the Himalayan region - divided between India and Pakistan - was reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against Indian rule sparked an armed conflict that has killed more than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, over the past two decades.
The government's decision to send the army to quell the recent protests was intended to prevent them from spiraling out of control and igniting another insurgency.
The Indian army is ubiquitous in Kashmir, but its operations are usually aimed at combating insurgents and it has not been used in crowd control since major street protests in 1990.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the region. India regularly accuses Pakistan of sending insurgents over the heavily militarized frontier to stir trouble and has blamed the recent protests on Pakistan-based militants bent on destabilizing India, a charge Islamabad denies.
Kashmiri separatists are demanding independence from Hindu-majority India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan.
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