“The Islamic Republic of Iran supports any measure which is in line with the Kashmiri nation’s interests,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said.

He further voiced Tehran’s preparedness to take effective steps to ease tensions if asked by both sides.

A security clampdown and a strike sponsored by separatists fighting against Indian rule shut down most of Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday, a day after deadly protests and fierce fighting killed 16 combatants and four civilians.

Media reports said that armed police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear fanned out across the region and patrolled streets in anticipation of anti-India protests and clashes.

Authorities also imposed a curfew in some towns in southern Kashmir and in the old parts of the disputed region’s main city of Srinagar, the urban center of protests and clashes against Indian rule.

Shops and businesses closed in other areas where no security restrictions were in place.

Authorities shut schools and colleges and canceled university exams in an attempt to stop protests by students. Troops laid steel barricades and razor wire on roads and intersections to cut off neighborhoods as authorities anticipated widespread protests.

At least 13 Kashmiri rebels and three Indian army soldiers were killed in Sunday’s fighting in three gunbattles in southern Kashmir.

As the fighting raged, large anti-India protests erupted in several parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir and at least four civilians were killed and dozens injured.

According to local health services, four people have been wounded seriously, but remain in stable condition.

It was earlier reported that at least 844 civilians and 33 law enforcers were injured in the clashes that erupted in Catalonia during the referendum on Sunday, Sputnik reported.

Madrid officials sent the Spanish National Police Corps and Civil Guard who tried to prevent the region’s residents from taking part in the vote.

Authorities in Catalonia are claiming that 90 percent of those who voted in the independence referendum are opting to break away from Madrid. Catalan President Charles Puigdemont said in a live televised speech on Sunday that Catalans had won the right to sovereignty.

Puigdemont has already called on the European Union not to ignore violations of human rights by the Spanish police during clashes with the supporters of referendum.

A smaller number of ethnic Somalis numbering around 300 have also been displaced from Oromia regional state, Xinhua news agency reported.

Speaking exclusively to Xinhua on Tuesday, Negeri Lencho, Minister of Ethiopia Government Communication Affairs Office (GCAO) says the Ethiopian government has formed a national taskforce to help with the needs of the displaced people.

He further said despite isolated clashes on Monday on the border between Oromia and Somali regional states, the area is generally calming down.

“The border areas between the two regional states is being currently manned by the Ethiopian army to prevent a repeat of the last week’s deadly clashes,” said Lencho adding that the national taskforce is helping those displaced people that have indicated a desire to return back to their original residences.

Ethiopia’s biggest regional states Oromia and Somali have been locked in a dispute over the delineation of their common boundary for almost two decades.

A referendum in October 2004 was supposed to demarcate the boundary between the two regional states, but its implementation has been stalled ever since with both sides accusing each other of non-compliance with the referendum results.

Over the past week, heavy clashes along the Oromia-Somali boundary spilled into ethnic violence which has left scores of people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

As part of the efforts to calm the situation, the Ethiopian federal government announced on Saturday roads that cross both regional states will be guarded by the federal police and security forces of both regional states will withdraw from border locations.

In addition, the statement from the federal government said it will engage in disarmament of weapons held by civilians in the area of the conflict.