Thousands of armed police and paramilitary soldiers on patrol asked residents to stay indoors in major towns to prevent protests.

For the past six weeks, street violence — sparked by the deaths of several protesters in apparent shootings by security forces — has roiled the mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong.

On Sunday, schools, shops and businesses opened despite a public holiday after separatists called for a day's break in weeks of intermittent strike action. Tens of thousands of shoppers flooded markets to stockpile supplies.

However, protests erupted late Sunday after residents blamed police for the deaths of another two Kashmiris.

Residents said the body of Farooq Ahmed Bhat, 35, who had been missing from his home in Srinagar for five days, was found in a stream. They alleged that police killed him for participating in anti-India protests.

A police officer said that Bhat, a former militant, appeared to have died of drowning and an investigation was underway. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with media.

Another man, Tariq Ahmed was found dead Sunday in a police cell in Panzalla, a village 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Srinagar. Residents accused police of torturing Ahmed to death.

The police officer said Ahmed was arrested recently on charges of helping the militants and he committed suicide in custody.

The region has been under a rolling curfew in recent weeks as residents accuse government forces of killing at least 17 people, mostly teenagers, in the demonstrations.

The tension in the Himalayan region — divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both — is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule sparked an armed conflict. Since then, more than 68,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians.

Separatist politicians and militants reject Indian sovereignty and want to carve out a separate homeland or merge with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.