SRINAGAR: India withdrew paramilitary troops yesterday from a tense Kashmir town where they shot dead four protesters to quell violent anti-India demonstrations in the past three days, the government said.

Baramulla town in north Kashmir, bordering Pakistan, is the first town in the disputed Himalayan region where the police will look after law and order.

Indian troops yesterday staged a flag march in Baramulla as it was requisitioned by the district authorities to help in restoring order in the town in the wake of unabated violence for three days, despite replacement of Indian paramilitary, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) by the state armed police.

Army troops in battle gear mounted on vehicles and carrying automatic weapons drove through the town’s main streets, where angry protesters engaged police in dingdong battles since morning, after the body of Amir Rashid Mir, injured in police firing on Monday reached the town.

Thousands of people filled the streets in the town to mourn the latest victim of police firing, who had received a bullet hit on the head Monday, and succumbed to injuries early today, raising the death toll to four.

Shouting “we want freedom” mobs clashed with police in the town after the burial. Police responded with tear gas and baton charges to disperse the protesters who, however, continued to re-group in the town. A woman identified as Anjum Zahoor was hit on the head by a tear gas shell in the town, wounding her critically.

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