Some 2,000 people took to the streets Monday in an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir to protest the killing of a teenage Muslim truck driver who was burned to death in the cab of his truck, apparently because he was wrongly suspected of transporting beef. 
 
 It was the third instance in recent weeks in which a Muslim man has been killed over beef. Cows are considered sacred by Hindus. 
 
 Zahid Rasool Bhat, 18, the truck driver who died Sunday of burns, was buried Monday in his village, Botengo, in South Kashmir. Hindu militants are suspected of carrying out the attack, in which gasoline bombs were reportedly thrown into his vehicle on Oct. 9. The incident was caught on security cameras. 
 
 Bhat was reportedly carrying coal in his truck, not beef. 
 
 Protesters poured into the streets following his funeral, expressing grief and anger over his killing. “The protestors chanted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans,” said Shujaat Bukhari, editor of Rising Kashmir, an independent newspaper in the state. 
 
 The protests ultimately gave way to violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Police fired tear- and pepper-gas shells to subdue the stone-throwing protesters. 
 
 The chief minister of the state, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, condemned the killing and announced that the government would give Bhat’s family compensation of about $7,700, along with a government job. 
 
 Kamal Singh / AP Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh, left, after suspected activists of a right-wing organization threw ink on his face after he addressed a press conference in New Delhi to protest the death of a Muslim trucker killed over a rumor that he was transporting beef. Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh, left, after suspected activists of a right-wing organization threw ink on his face after he addressed a press conference in New Delhi to protest the death of a Muslim trucker killed over a rumor that he was transporting beef. (Kamal Singh / AP) (Kamal Singh / AP) 
 
 Five people were arrested for murder, rioting, conspiracy and explosives charges, according to Waheed-ur-Rahman, spokesman of the state government. He said one had fled and was the target of a manhunt. He said the case would be held in a “fast-track” court designed to speed up India’s typically slow judicial process. 
 
 In response to concerns over religious tensions, the government of Jammu and Kashmir state declared a curfew in several parts of south Kashmir, and the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was being patrolled by a heavy police presence as well as paramilitary forces. The police have also stopped the entry of trucks into Kashmir as a precautionary measure. 
 
 “The situation is very intense at the moment,” said Bukhari. “Tempers are palpably running high. People have reacted strongly to the murder. We can only hope the situation does not lead to serious riots.” 
 
 Also Monday, Hindu militants threw ink on a Muslim lawmaker in New Delhi, where he was holding a news conference to protest Zahid's death. "India will not tolerate any disrespect to cows!" the assailants reportedly shouted. 
 
 The lawmaker, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, had drawn the ire of Hindu extremists earlier this month for hosting a party at which beef was served. 
 
 In previous recent cases, a mob of suspected members of the radical Hindu group Bajrang Dal killed a Muslim man for allegedly smuggling cattle from India's Himachal Pradesh last week. Three weeks earlier, a man in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was lynched by a mob over apparently false rumors that he had been eating beef. 
 
 Parth M.N. is a special correspondent 
 
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 Eritrean mistaken for terrorist dies after being shot by Israeli guard, attacked by mob ||||| SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A general strike and curfew shut Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday following the death of a Muslim teenager attacked by a Hindu mob over rumors of cows being slaughtered. 
 
 Stranded trucks stand in a line at the Jammu-Srinagar highway on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. A general strike and curfew have shut Indian-controlled Kashmir following the death... (Associated Press) 
 
 Stranded trucks stand in a line at the Jammu-Srinagar highway on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. A general strike and curfew have shut Indian-controlled Kashmir following the death... (Associated Press) 
 
 Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh, center, reacts after suspected activists of a right-wing organization threw ink on his face after he addressed a press conference in New Delhi, India, Monday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh, left, reacts after suspected activists of a right-wing organization threw ink on his face after he addressed a press conference in New Delhi, India, Monday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Hindus consider cows to be sacred, and slaughtering the animals is banned in most Indian states. 
 
 Businesses, schools and shops remained shut due to the strike called by anti-India separatists and traders to denounce the killing. State authorities canceled all university and college examinations on Monday fearing protests. 
 
 Thousands of people who attended Zahid Rasool's funeral in Botengo village in southern Kashmir shouted anti-Indian slogans demanding freedom from Indian rule. 
 
 Rasool and another truck driver were set ablaze by a mob after their vehicle stopped in the Hindu-dominated Udhampur neighborhood. A third person in the truck escaped unhurt. The injured were flown to New Delhi for treatment, but Rasool died from his burns on Sunday. 
 
 Police officer Danish Rana said nine people have been arrested in connection with Rasool's death. 
 
 Authorities laid razor wire across the main crossings and declared curfew in parts of Kashmir's capital city, Srinagar, and in nearby Anantnag town to stop protests and clashes. 
 
 "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom," the crowd shouted at Rasool's funeral. Clashes also erupted in Botengo village as security forces fired tear gas to stop rock-throwing protesters from marching to the nearby main highway. 
 
 Differences have deepened within Kashmir's ruling coalition, with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party demanding a ban on slaughtering cows and selling beef in the Muslim-majority state. 
 
 A colonial-era law banned cow slaughter in Kashmir, but no one paid heed to it until a local court ordered its strict enforcement recently. 
 
 Muslims resented the order and later India's Supreme Court suspended it for two months. 
 
 Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, took office last year, hard-line Hindus have been demanding that India ban beef sales. Most beef sold across India is buffalo meat. 
 
 There has been outrage across India after a 50-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death by a mob last month over rumors that his family had eaten beef for dinner. Last week, a village mob in northern India beat a Muslim man to death and injured four others, accusing them of smuggling cows to be slaughtered for beef.
– For the third time in less than a month, a Muslim man has been killed over beef. In the most recent incident, an 18-year-old truck driver was burned in the cab of his truck in an Indian-controlled part of Kashmir Oct. 9 because he was suspected of transporting beef; he died of his injuries Sunday. The teen was actually carrying coal, the Los Angeles Times reports. Hindu militants are suspected in the gasoline bomb attack—Hindus consider cows sacred for religious reasons, while Muslims eat beef. Two thousand demonstrators flooded the streets in Kashmir Monday to protest the attack, and violent clashes broke out between them and security forces. A curfew has been instituted. The first recent murder took place late last month when a Muslim man in India's Uttar Pradesh state was lynched by a mob over rumors (apparently untrue) that he'd eaten beef. Then, last week, a Muslim man was killed by members of a radical Hindu group because he had allegedly smuggled cattle from another Indian state. Also today, Hindu militants threw ink on a Muslim lawmaker who recently served beef at a party he hosted. They reportedly shouted, "India will not tolerate any disrespect to cows." Nine people have been arrested in connection to the latest death, the AP reports.