SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - One demonstrator was killed and two were wounded when police opened fire Friday in a town in India's restive Kashmir region on a crowd protesting against burnings of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, by Hindu hardliners.
Unrest began in several parts of India this month when right-wing Hindus burnt a copy of the Quran in New Delhi to protest against the destruction of Buddhist statues by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.
"The police fired in panic when they saw the slogan-shouting crowd marching toward them," a police spokesman told Reuters of the the demonstration in Baramulla town, north of Kashmir state capital Srinagar.
Police said one protester died and two others were wounded when they opened fire on the demonstrators. Authorities imposed a curfew on the town.
Later protesters carried the body of the dead man through the town and buildings and cars were set ablaze, eyewitnesses said.
There was also unrest elsewhere in the state, police said. In Srinagar, police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called for tough action to curb the violence and said the Quran was sacred not just to Muslims but to all Indians.
"I urge the governments of the states in which such incidents are reported to take swift and stern action against the perpetrators," he said in a statement.
Earlier this week, a copy of the Quran was burned in Amritsar and in Patiala in the northern state of Punjab.
Some 12 people were killed last week in the northern city of Kanpur in communal clashes triggered by the New Delhi incident.
10:07 03-23-01
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