Srinagar, India - India's northern Jammu and Kashmir region was tense on Saturday as thousands marched during a funeral a slain separatist leader on the outskirts of the capital.

The protestors shouted slogans demanding freedom and condemning security forces but there were no reports of violence as paramilitary forces stood by with orders not to interfere.

Separatist Hurriyat Conference leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, 69, was shot by security forces on Monday as he led thousands of marchers, defying curfew orders, towards the de facto border with Pakistan in a protest over a land row.

The separatist group held the memorial demonstration at his ancestral town Pampore, about 16 kilometers from Srinagar.

At least 24 people have been killed and more than 600 injured during violent protests in India-administered Kashmir since Monday.

The troubled Kashmir region is divided into one part administered by Pakistan and the other by India. A de facto border known as the line of control divides the two areas with Pakistani and Indian troops manning posts on either side.

Kashmiri separatist groups and fruit growers began protesting a blockade of the main highway connecting the upper reaches of the state to the rest of the country earlier in the week.

The blockade by Hindu activists in Jammu, which officials say has been cleared, were sparked by a dispute over allotment of land to a Hindu cave shrine.

Saturday's march was the most peaceful so far and was preceded by appeals from Hurriyat leaders and the state administration to refrain from violence. (dpa)