India imposes curfew in Kashmir amid tensions
Parts of Indian-administered Kashmir have been placed under curfew amid growing tensions across the disputed Himalayan valley.
On Friday, Indian police and paramilitary soldiers maintained the curfew in Srinagar, the region's main city, and several other parts of Kashmir to prevent any activities by separatists to mark Pakistan's Independence Day.
The restrictions were announced on the eve of the Independence Day following a recent spike in violence across the Muslim-majority region.
"The restrictions are imposed to prevent miscreants from hoisting Pakistani flags and to avoid loss of life," said the region’s police director general, K. Rajendra.
The anniversary of the partition of the sub-continent in 1947 is often a tense period in Kashmir.
The Indian forces have begun patrolling neighborhoods, and ordered residents to stay indoors. Shops and businesses remained closed in several areas of the violence-hit region.
In a separate development, hundreds of villagers fled the bordering districts of Kashmir after Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire along the de facto border dividing the disputed region.
On Friday, a Pakistani woman lost her life and her two daughters and husband sustained injuries when a mortar shell -- allegedly fired by Indian troops -- struck their home in the Nezapir sector of Rawalakot town, located 120 kilometers (74 miles) south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 66 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the region in full but have partial control over it.
Many Kashmiris have been killed in an uprising and a subsequent Indian military crackdown since 1989.
Islamabad and New Delhi have fought three wars, two of which over Kashmir, since their independence from the British colonial rule in 1947.
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