At least three persons were injured in clashes between protesters and security forces at several places today even as authorities imposed curfew in parts of Srinagar, Kupwara and Bandipora districts, officials said.

The clashes erupted when groups of youth took to the streets and indulged in stone-pelting shortly after Friday prayers at Baramulla district town and adjoining areas of Bandipora, Shopian and Pulwama district towns, they said.

Police and paramilitary forces exercised restraint and used mild force to disperse the stone-pelters.

While one person was injured at Muran Chowk in Pulwama district town of south Kashmir, two others suffered minor injuries at Delina in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, they said.

The clashes between stone-pelting protesters and law enforcing agencies also took place at Chattabal and Safakadal localities of Srinagar this evening, they added.

Apprehending law and order problem after Friday prayers, authorities imposed curfew in parts of Srinagar, Bandipora and Kupwara districts.

"Curfew has been clamped in Rainawari, Nowhatta, Khanyar, Safakadal and Maharajgunj police station areas in old Srinagar city," a police spokesman said, adding similar restrictions were also imposed in Kupwara, Trehgam, Kralpora and Bandipora towns in north Kashmir.

The old city, which also houses the historic Jamia Masjid, has been placed under curfew for the fourth consecutive Friday and no congregational prayers have been offered when restrictions were put in place.

Shops, business establishments and private offices opened in most parts of the Valley, where there were no restrictions or curfew. Transport services, both public and private, were plying on all routes.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, which is spearheading the ongoing agitation in the Valley, had exempted Thursday and Friday from the purview of its strike calendar.

However, shops and offices in Abi Guzar area in Lal Chowk remained closed in protest against the arrest of an alleged stone-pelter from the area yesterday.

Police had fired several warning shots as local residents tried to resist the arrest of Mohammad Altaf Shiekh alias Shera.

Kashmir Valley has been in a grip of protests, strikes and curfew since June when a 17-year-old boy was killed by a tear smoke shell allegedly fired by police at Rajouri Kadal area of the city.