Indian Kashmiris Clash With Police, 26 Hurt

Angry protesters took to the streets in Srinagar, Kashmir`s summer capital, shouting, `Down with security forces, release Shabir Shah.`

Police opened fire and lobbed teargas shells on Friday in Indian Kashmir's main city to disperse protesters demanding the release of a top separatist leader, injuring at least 26 people, police said.

Angry protesters took to the streets in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, shouting, "Down with security forces, release Shabir Shah," while some threw stones at policemen.

"Twenty six people were injured in the clashes," Fayaz Ahmad, a police officer said.

Last year police detained Shah, a senior separatist leader after he led some of the biggest protests in two decades against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.

Shah, dubbed by supporters "Kashmir's Nelson Mandela" for the more than 20 years he spent in prisons for opposing Indian rule, is an executive member of the region's main separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the region since an anti-India insurgency broke out in 1989.

But overall violence involving Indian troops and separatist guerrillas has declined significantly across Kashmir since India and Pakistan, which both claim the region but rule in part, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

New Delhi has put a pause on that dialogue after last November's Mumbai attacks, in which 179 people were killed.