Curfew imposed in Indian-occupied Kashmir to prevent Independence Day celebrations

Police says restrictions are imposed to prevent miscreants from hoisting Pakistani flags

SRINAGAR, INDIA: Authorities imposed a curfew in parts of the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday to prevent any move by separatists to celebrate Pakistan's Indepedence Day, police said.

The restrictions in Srinagar, which included the closure of the city's main mosque during Friday prayers, were announced on the eve of independence day in both India and Pakistan and follow a recent spike in violence.

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"The restrictions are imposed to prevent miscreants from hoisting Pakistani flags and to avoid loss of life," Director General of police K Rajendra told AFP.

Additional checkpoints and razor wire barricades have been erected along major arterial roads in Indian-controlled Kashmir to thwart militant attacks amid the deployment of thousands of troop reinforcements.

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On Thursday, a bomb kept in a steel pot exploded in the compound of a mosque in the south of the Kashmir Valley, injuring 10 worshipers as they were leaving after morning prayers.