Violent protests explode during Kashmir elections

SRINAGAR, India -- Violent protests erupted Tuesday as thousands of people voted in municipal elections held for the first time in 25 years in Indian-controlled Kashmir amid threats by rebel groups to attack those who participate in the polls.\nA mob attacked one polling station in Srinigar, throwing bricks and shattering its windows, said police officer Rashid Ahmad. Elsewhere in the city, crowds of young men burned tires, attacked police vehicles and pelted officers with stones until police chased them away.\nMore than 440,000 people were eligible to vote in the election, which is for municipal agencies in Jammu-Kashmir state's two main cities, Srinigar and Jammu.\nThe turnout was about 17.5 percent in Srinagar, an election official said on condition of anonymity. In Jammu, the turnout was 75 percent, election officials said.\nSeparatist and rebel groups called for a boycott of the polls, which had not been held for 25 years because of fears of violence. At least two rebel groups, Al-Mansoorain and Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, have threatened to target people participating in the \nelections.\nDozens of soldiers in bulletproof jackets were deployed around polls to thwart rebel attacks. None was reported.\nVoters defied those calls and waited in long queues outside heavily guarded polling centers in Srinagar. Still, many hid their faces to avoid reprisals from the rebels.\n"This is not about independence but about simpler things: sewage drains, street lighting, clean roads. We should not confuse it with the freedom struggle," said voter Abdul Hamid, 40.\nMunicipal elections in various districts of insurgency-wracked Jammu-Kashmir will run until Feb. 10. At least 700,000 people are expected to vote for 412 local representatives.\nThree candidates have been killed by suspected separatist militants since last month, when campaigning began.\nMore than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian security forces since 1989, demanding independence for the Kashmir region or its merger with neighboring Pakistan. More than 66,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the 15-year conflict.