Crisis worsens in Kashmir: police shoot dead 13 protestors...

Police shot dead at least 13 people Monday in anti-government and Koran demonstrations across Indian Kashmir in the biggest single death toll from protests in the disputed region in years.

The toll includes nine people killed in police clashes after Muslim protesters set fire to a Christian missionary school and government buildings in two districts to denounce reports that copies of the Koran had been damaged in the United States.

One policeman was also killed by stone-throwing protesters defying a curfew in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

The deaths are a huge challenge for the Congress-led government, which has been criticised for failing to treat the protests seriously, underscoring a policy limbo in New Delhi that may spill over into tension with Pakistan, which claims Kashmir. More...

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