Indian security forces fired live ammunition and clashed with hundreds of separatist protesters defying an indefinite curfew clamped on Kashmir a day after huge demonstrations against New Delhi's rule.
At least 20 people were injured.
Five were wounded when police fired live ammunition and tear gas shells in southern Kashmir to disperse a crowd hurling stones at the home of Kashmir's education minister, Peerzada Mohammad Syed.
"Syed was inside at the time of attack, but escaped unhurt," a senior police official said.
At least 15 people, including eight policemen, were injured in clashes between government forces and stone-throwing protesters in different parts of the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, police said.
In the north, protesters set fire to a school building and threw petrol bombs at a security patrol vehicle, police said.
The Indian government deployed thousands of security forces and slapped an indefinite curfew on Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, on Sunday, a day after Muslims set fire to public buildings in protests against New Delhi's rule.
The curfew extended to other big towns in the Kashmir valley.
The government has been trying to respond to the biggest separatist demonstrations in two years in Kashmir triggered by the killing of a 17-year-old student by police in June. Seventy people have died, most from police firing into protesters.
In Srinagar, troops equipped with assault rifles patrolled deserted streets in most districts and blocked off lanes with razor wire and iron barricades.
But clashes erupted in two residential districts of the town, the heart of an insurgency where tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of violence.
Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, told NDTV news channel that the fresh violence in Muslim-Majority Kashmir had dealt a setback to an anticipated new government peace initiative.
"Such protests create problems for everybody else," Abdullah said. "How can you take this move forward if violence continues?"
Police have accused the region's main separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, of instigating violence and arson. Farooq denied the charges.
After Eid prayers to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting month, tens of thousands marched through Srinagar on Saturday, setting fire to government and police buildings. Farooq led the main demonstration.
Killings of civilians have fuelled anger across Kashmir, where sentiment against New Delhi's rule runs deep. Human rights groups say India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives security forces wide powers to shoot, arrest and search in battling a separatist insurgency, further alienates people.
India's Congress party-led federal government is considering a partial relaxation of the act in Kashmir as part of a peace initiative expected in the next few days. But no consensus has been reached on the issue yet, local media have reported.
"We don't want peace, we don't want the peace of a graveyard," Mr Farooq said in a statement. "We want a solution of the Kashmir dispute and that will end all the problems."
A poll published today in the Hindustan Times said two-thirds of residents in the Kashmir Valley wanted independence for the entire state from both India and Pakistan.
An earlier survey by the think-tank Chatham House said between 75 percent and 95 percent in the valley supported independence.
Peace in Kashmir is crucial for improving relations between India and Pakistan, which are trying to revive peace talks halted after India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The neighbours claim Kashmir in full though they rule it in parts and fought two of three wars over the region.
Reuters
