A strike called by Muslim separatists to protest the fatal shooting of four civilians, allegedly by the army, crippled life in Indian Kashmir, police and residents said, as another eight people died in two gunbattles in the restive region. Most shops, banks and offices in the summer capital Srinagar were closed by the strike, which was called by both moderate and hardline factions of the region’s separatist alliance. Traffic was also thin on the streets, witnesses said on Friday. The strike was being observed in other Kashmir towns, including Handwara in northern Kupwara district, near to the village of Dudipora where the four civilians died on Wednesday, witnesses said. Full Story