VIOLENCE -KASHMIRI APPLES- VOLUMES

APPLES with anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans were found in a fruit market of Indian Occupied Kashmir [IOK] as the brutal clampdown in the valley enters its 73rd day, reported the Kashmir Media Service.

A local vendor found a crate of apples with messages such as ''Pakistan Zindabad'' ''Love Burhan Wani'' and ''Meri Jaan [my life] Imran Khan'' inscribed on the fruit.

Messages against Indian occupation such as ''Go India Go Back'' and ''We Want Freedom'' were also inscribed in English and Urdu, according to a local.

Police in the occupied Kashmir seized the consignment of apples.

Farmers in occupied Kashmir are deliberately leaving their apples to rot, undermining the occupied territory's most lucrative export as bitterness towards Indian government grows.

SRINAGAR : Indian security forces martyred three freedom fighters, while two people were shot dead in other violence last Wednesday, one of the bloodiest days in occupied Kashmir since New Delhi revoked the the disputed region's autonomy more than two months ago.

The killings were the first since mobile phone services were restored as part of a gradual relaxation of measures taken to crush freedom struggle in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi had cut off telephone and Internet lines before it revoked occupied Jammu and Kashmir's special rights on August 5, striking down long-standing constitutional provisions for the Muslim-majority region.

A security lockdown is still largely in place and broadband and mobile Internet connections remain unavailable to most Kashmiris.

The three freedom fighters were martyred in a ''gun battle'' after occupied solders, acting on a tip-off raided a village in south Kashmir, two police sources told Reuters.

''Three terrorists were killed and the bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,'' Kashmir police said in a statement.
''Incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, was recovered.''

Neither the soldiers or people suffered casualties, according to police sources, who spoke on conditions of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Security forces imposed travel restrictions near the site of the gun battle to prevent unrest, the sources said.

In a separate incident in Pulwama district, a migrant worker from Chhattisgarh state, in central India, was shot dead in an execution style killing, police said.

The brick kiln labourer was walking along a railway track in the Kakapora area when he was stopped by two people. ''He was shot in head,'' a police official said, declining to be named.

In another incident, a fruit merchant was killed and another critically wounded when gunman fired at them in the Shopian district of south Kashmir. [Reuters]