SRINAGAR, India, July 6 (Reuters) - A strike by Kashmiri separatists to protest human rights abuses by Indian security forces closed shops and businesses on Friday in Kashmir's main city.

Streets in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, were almost deserted during the strike called by the region's hard line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Police in the revolt-torn Himalayan state in the past have been accused of murdering innocent civilians in staged gun battles and passing the victims off as separatist militants to earn rewards and promotions.

Earlier this year, authorities charged over a dozen policemen and soldiers with killing at least two civilians in separate fake gun battles, claiming the civilians were militants.

The killings triggered widespread protests across the Muslim-majority region where officials say more than 42,000 people have been killed after a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000.

A Pakistan-based alliance of Muslim militant groups, the United Jihad Council (UJC), fighting for the secession of Muslim-majority Kashmir from mainly Hindu India, supported the strike call which also closed most schools and colleges in Srinagar.

Indian authorities deny any systematic rights violations in Kashmir and say all reports are investigated and those found guilty are punished.

The fresh protest strike comes the day after a civilian was killed and another wounded in Kashmir when a soldier fired at angry villagers who tried to seize him while he was reportedly cuddling with a Muslim girl.

The soldier later shot himself dead.

Revolt-torn Kashmir region has seen an increase in violence with the onset of summer as it allows for easier movement of militants within the Himalayan region as well as through the mountain passes from Pakistan.

At least nine separatist militants were killed in gun battles with security forces in the last 24 hours, police said.

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