SRINAGAR: Thousands of shopkeepers in Indian-administered Kashmir have gone on a daylong general strike to protest the killing of a student and frequent power cuts.

Police and security forces took positions to prevent any street protests after Friday afternoon prayers in Srinagar, the region's main city, and other towns in the Kashmir valley.

On Monday, a student was killed when government forces fired on villagers who were protesting outside a power plant near Baramulla town against frequent power cuts in the region.

Kashmir faces power cuts of up to 16 hours a day despite bitterly cold winter temperatures.

Nearly a dozen insurgent groups are fighting for independence of Indian-administered Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.