Security forces opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim protesters in Kashmir on Tuesday, Aug. 12. It was the second day Muslims had defied a curfew and taken to the streets of Srinagar and other nearby towns.

"We want freedom and we will continue our struggle until we are
free," senior Muslim cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq told AFP news agency.

Separatists have been rebelling against Indian rule for two decades.

Government and news agencies reported that 13 people had been killed in clashes with police on Tuesday. The Muslim rioters were protesting a Hindu-led blockade of a main highway, which has cut off food and other supplies to the region.

Protests and counter-protests have been taking place for weeks in the Kashmir valley as well as in the mainly Hindu region around the city of Jammu further south.