Troops in Indian-held Kashmir on Thursday opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators outside an army garrison where freedom fighters earlier killed three occupation soldiers, hitting one civilian who later died. Police said the soldiers fired on a crowd of protesters who threw rocks at an army jeep as it emerged from the barracks, hitting a 40-year-old man.

"In response they fired and injured a man. He later died," the inspector general of police for the region Javid Gillani told AFP. Police had earlier fired tear gas and live bullets into the air to try to break up demonstrations after what one officer called "intense clashes". The violence followed a pre-dawn assault on the garrison in Kupwara district, near the Line of Control.

Army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said two attackers had been killed and search operations were in progress to see if there were any more still in the area. Police said paramilitary reinforcements were being sent to the area, where demonstrators shouted slogans such as "We want freedom, and "Go India, go back". Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the held Kashmir valley.

The latest incident occurred just a day after Indian authorities in the area ordered internet service providers to block 22 social media services including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp for a month to maintain "public order". Wednesday's move to block social media was the first time the government took such a step, although it regularly blocks the mobile internet signal in the volatile valley.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017