The shake-up came hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered officials to use non-lethal measures to control the demonstrations.

However, protests by thousands of Kashmiris continued across the region after Friday prayers at mosques.

The demonstrators chanted pro-independence slogans and government forces responded with warning shots in the Soura neighborhood of Srinagar, a police officer said. No injuries were immediately reported.

On Thursday night, large clashes broke out between protesters and government forces at three places in Srinagar and Sopore, a town 55 km to the northwest, the officer said.

Government forces fired tear gas and live ammunition, and at least 16 protesters and nine police officers were injured, he said.

Kashmir police chief Farooq Ahmed and intelligence chief K. Rajendra were among a dozen top officers transferred to other positions, the state government said in a statement late Thursday.

Civil rights activists have accused Indian paramilitary soldiers and police of using excessive force. Each death caused by government forces provokes a more severe protest by rock-throwing Kashmiris.

On Thursday, the prime minister questioned the government's crowd control tactics.

The protests in Kashmir have to be dealt with using «non-lethal, yet effective and more focused measures,» Singh said at a conference of police chiefs from various Indian states.

The last two months in the volatile Himalayan region have been reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule sparked an armed conflict that has killed more than 68,000 people, mostly civilians.