Srinagar, Kashmir - Suspected Muslim militants on Saturday killed a trooper in Srinagar, capital of India-administered Kashmir where continuing clashes between separatist protestors and police left 30 wounded, officials said.

The trooper belonging to the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force was shot dead at point-blank range by unidentified militants in the Safa Kadal area, local police said.

The city also saw clashes between security forces and mobs angry over killings of two civilians in police firing at pro-independence rallies on Friday.

Police cane-charged stone-pelting protestors shouting anti-India slogans. Local officials estimated that at least 30 people were injured in three such clashes in the city.

Shops and businesses remained closed and traffic was sparse on arterial roads in response to a strike call by the local lawyers' association.

Protests which began against a government order on land transfer to a Hindu shrine have turned into the most widespread pro-freedom movement in the region in over a decade.

At least 50 people, mostly in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, have died in protests linked to the land row since June.

Indian troops have been criticized by Kashmiris and the international human rights groups for using excessive force to subdue protests in the region.

Leaders from the main separatist Hurriyat group said the current protests were no longer connected with the Hindu shrine controversy and are aimed to demand independence from India.

The leaders have drawn up a calendar of protests and have appealed to people to boycott state elections planned by November.

The volatile situation has caused concern in the Indian establishment as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a security review on Kashmir with army chief General Deepak Kapoor in New Delhi.

More than 40,000 civilians, militants and government troops have died in the secessionist movement in India-administered Kashmir since the late 1980s. (dpa)