Thousands protest civilian deaths in Indian Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India, April 16 (Reuters) - Thousands of angry protesters marched in Indian Kashmir on Monday with the bodies of two civilians killed in an exchange of fire between police and militants the day before, police and witnesses said.

A carpenter and a mason were killed late on Sunday near Kakpora area, about 25 km (15 miles) south of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, a police spokesman said.

Residents said the policemen had fired indiscriminately in retaliation after their vehicle came under attack from militants.

Police said the two men were killed by militants.

Witnesses said more than 3,000 demonstrators carried the two bodies on a tractor-trailer in Kakpora, shouting "Allah-ho-Akbar" (God is great) and "We want justice."

More than 42,000 people have been killed in the region since an insurgency broke out in 1989, officials say. Human rights activists put the toll at about 60,000 dead and missing.

Officials say violence in Kashmir has declined after India and Pakistan, who claim the region in full but rule in part, launched a cautious peace process in 2004.

But people are still killed in daily violence.

Indian troops on Sunday shot dead four suspected militants in two separate shootouts in the Himalayan region, police said.