SRINAGAR (India) - OVER a dozen people were hurt on Monday in Indian Kashmir in protests over the alleged rape and murder of two young Muslim women by security forces, police and witnesses said.

Police said they were probing the deaths of the 17-year-old woman and her 22-year-old sister-in-law whose bodies were found in a shallow stream on Saturday.

Their families said the corpses bore marks of violence and their clothes were torn. They have accused security forces of abducting, raping and killing the women.

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ordered a judicial probe Monday into the deaths. An autopsy report was due in a few days.

'The probe will be conducted by a retired high court judge and the findings will be known within a month,' he told reporters. But 'the initial indication does not suggest either rape or murder,' he said, noting it appeared to be a case of drowning.

Tensions are sufficiently high in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where there has been a two-decade insurgency against Indian rule, that even the suspicion of violence against locals, especially women, is enough to stir major demonstrations.

A one-day strike was held to mourn and protest the deaths with shops, schools, banks and post offices in Srinagar and other towns closed, police said. Police and soldiers were out in force to prevent more violent protests.

Over 70 people were wounded in weekend clashes between police and angry protesters in the women's home town of Shopian, 50km south of Srinagar, as well as in Srinagar itself.

On Monday, more protests erupted in Shopian and adjoining villages, with riot police using tear gas and firing into the air to disperse the crowds. 'Some 15 people, including women, were hurt,' a police officer said. -- AFP