SRINAGAR: Two persons were killed and another was critically injured on Wednesday when security forces opened fire on protesters who defied curfew in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara and Budgam districts as violence erupted again in the Valley after a brief lull.

A group of people tried to defy curfew in Soibugh area of Budgam in the afternoon and raised anti-India slogans, prompting security forces to resort to baton charge and teargas shelling, official sources said.

Unable to control the mob, the security forces opened fire resulting in death of one Hilal Ahmad Mir, they said.

Another youth was hit by a teargas shell and was shifted to a hospital here in a critical condition.

Earlier, a group of protesters started raising anti-India slogans after offering afternoon prayers at Banday Mohalla in Handwara area of Kupwara, the sources said.

Security forces opened fire to disperse the mob in which one person identified as Mohammad Yousuf Banday was injured. He was shifted to a hospital here where doctors declared him brought dead.

Agitated at the firing, more people gathered in the area and indulged in stone pelting resulting in minor injuries to five police personnel.

With these, the death toll in firing by security forces on curfew-defying protesters has now gone up to eight.