Srinagar, Sep 22 (IANS): JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was on Tuesday detained here before he began a day's hunger strike to protest against the recent "mysterious killings" in the Kashmir Valley.

As soon as JKLF activists led by Malik began a march towards city centre Lal Chowk, where he was to stage the hunger strike, a large posse of police stopped them.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader was detained with nearly two dozen activists and lodged at the Kothi Bagh police station.

Among those detained was Parveena Ahanger, chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons.

On September 19, three-year-old Burhan Bashir and his father - a former militant - were killed by unidentified gunmen outside their house at Sagipora in Sopore, 50 km northwest of Srinagar.

"We had planned to stage a token one-day hunger strike to protest against the recent civilian killings. But authorities foiled our peaceful programme by using force," Malik told IANS here.

He sought an international probe into the killings so that those involved were punished.