SRINAGAR:  Indian security forces widened a curfew in Kashmir on Friday, the Muslim day of prayers, after anti-India separatists threatened fresh protests against the killing of locals.

"We have widened the curfew to ensure a violence-free Friday," a police officer, who declined to be named, told AFP.

Towns such as Kupwara and Handwara in the north, Kakpora and Pulwama in south and Gandherbal in the east were placed under fresh curfew. Violent flashpoints such as Sopore, Srinigar and Anantnag remain restricted.

Indian police and paramilitary forces, who have been struggling to control the wave of protests in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, have been accused of killing 15 civilians in less than a month.

Each death has sparked a new cycle of violence, since the first killing of a 17-year old student in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, during Friday protests on June 11 by the police teargas shell.
Hardline separatists urged residents to march to the region`s revered Muslim shrine of Hazratbal in Srinagar on Friday. Two men and a woman were killed in the city on Tuesday.

"Whenever the curfew is relaxed in any of the areas, people are requested to come out on the streets and continue with a peaceful sit-in," a statement by hardliners said.

The army was called in on Wednesday in Srinagar after residents defied curfew restrictions and held protests. Their presence brought calm to the streets.

No local newspaper hit the stands for the second day running amid tight restrictions on the local and international media. Passes allowing journalists to travel in Srinigar despite the curfew have been cancelled.
"Due to the curbs imposed by the government on media, Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Uzma could not bring out their print editions for second consecutive day, Friday," reads the website of tthe two leading local newspapers.

Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan each hold Kashmir in part but claim it in full. They have fought two of their three wars over the region since the subcontinent`s partition in 1947.

BDST: 1225 HRS, July 9, 2010