INDIAN troops killed five “rebels” and two civilians in Kashmir today, police said, as separatist protests flared up for the second day running.

Hundreds of villagers threw rocks at Indian troops in a bid to help rebels who were trapped in a civilian home in southern Shopian area, according to Indian authorities.

Counterinsurgency officers and soldiers cordoned the village following intelligence that a group of militants were hiding there.

Rebels resisted the attack for five hours, but eventually succumbed, according to police director-general SP Vaid.

He said the dead included a senior rebel commander and a university professor who recently joined the separatist cause — thought to be Mohammed Rafi Bhat, a sociology teacher at the University of Kashmir.

Government forces also fired bullets, shotgun pellets and tear gas at the protesters trying to reach the site of the battle. Two civilians were killed, including a teenage boy, and at least 30 others were injured.

Most businesses in the disputed region closed today as locals called a strike in protest at yesterday’s violence, in which Indian troops killed three suspected rebels during a gun battle in Srinagar, while one civilian was killed in clashes with government forces.

Internet access was cut off to make organising protests harder.

Another three men were killed in shootings the police blamed on rebels.

Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan during the 1947 Partition, but is claimed wholly by both. Around 70,000 people have been killed in conflict between the rebels and the Indian state since 1989.