The first civic elections in decades passed off peacefully yesterday in Indian Kashmir's two biggest cities despite a protest strike on the day and killings in the lead-up to the vote, officials and witnesses said.

Police and paramilitary forces imposed tight security after Muslim rebels staged a spate of deadly attacks on candidates, party workers and rallies before the elections.

Muslim separatist politicians called for a boycott of the vote. A separatist-sponsored strike took traffic off the streets and all businesses remained shut for the day, residents said.

Civic elections have not been held in Indian Kashmir for the past 27 years, partly because of an insurgency against Indian rule but also due to fears by the previous ruling National Conference party of creating a rival power base.

The elections started on January 29 in the two northern districts of

Kupwara and Baramulla with 49 percent voter turnout. On Tuesday residents of the summer capital of Srinagar and the winter capital of Jammu voted to elect mayors.

In Srinagar officials said before polling booths closed that more than 20 percent of voters had cast their ballots.

"The turnout proves people want peace and development," the region's urban development minister Ghulam Hassan Mir told reporters.

In Jammu the turnout was 40 to 45 percent, officials said. The mainly Hindu city has seen much less violence than other areas during the revolt which began in 1989 and has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

No major violence was reported. But in the Miasuma district of Srinagar, dozens of youths pelted riot police with stones and burnt car tyres.

Overnight, an election officer and a policeman were injured in a grenade attack on a polling station in Srinagar's Batamaloo area, police said.