Supporters of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a movement calling for economic and governance reforms, have continued protests despite being banned under anti-terrorism laws last week.
Officials initially reported seven deaths on Monday, including three civilians and four police officers, with dozens of people wounded. The latest count showed the number of fatalities had increased to 20.

Local government higher education minister Malik Zafar told AFP that clashes in his constituency of Kotli had resulted in seven deaths during the week.
Commissioner Sardar Waheed, the senior civilian official in Rawalakot, said 12 people had been killed, including four police officers.

A senior police official in Mirpur, Khurram Iqbal, said one protester died during clashes with police on Wednesday.

Several shops in Muzaffarabad have remained closed as businesses joined calls for a strike in support of the JAAC, while mobile internet services have been largely unavailable, according to an AFP journalist in the area.
JAAC members have rejected the designation of the group as a terrorist organisation, describing the move as suppression and saying their protests are aimed at securing economic and political rights.

The latest unrest follows violent clashes in the Himalayan region in September, when nine people were confirmed killed during protests led by the JAAC.

Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but has been divided between the two countries since the end of British rule. The territory remains highly sensitive, with decades of tensions and conflicts between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The strike, which occurred on Wednesday, targeted the Al-Salama neighborhood near a girls’ school, according to the El-Fasher Resistance Committee.

The group attributed the attack to the Sudanese army, which has been engaged in a conflict with the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.

A medical source said the victims brought to a local hospital included six children, among them three secondary school students.

Sixteen others were wounded in the attack, including women and children, and are receiving treatment.

The strike underscores the continuing toll of the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, where fighting between the army and paramilitary forces has displaced large numbers of civilians and strained already limited medical resources.