SRINAGAR, India—The Indian government on Wednesday acknowledged killing 11 people in Kashmir in the deadliest violence here between protesters and government forces in two years, and called in more troops to patrol the emptying streets in the disputed Himalayan territory.

The government blamed a banned Pakistani group, Lashkar-e-Taibi, for manipulating the protesters and inciting the violence, underlining the threat that fresh unrest in the region poses for newly reopened peace talks between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

On Wednesday, few people ventured out here and shops remained closed. Thousands of security personnel patrolled deserted streets in armored vehicles. Luxury hotels, full only a few weeks ago, have emptied in the past few days as tourists fled, some in buses to India in the middle of the night.

The night before, Indian paramilitary troops fired on thousands of protesters in the southern town of Anantnag, killing three teenagers. Rock-throwing protesters also clashed with police here in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-held Kashmir.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, speaking after attending an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, confirmed that paramilitary forces had killed 11 civilians since June 11. That is when anti-India protests flared after paramilitary forces hit and killed a 17-year-old boy with a tear-gas cannister. The unrest has spread from Srinigar to the north and south in recent days.

India moved 3,000 troops Wednesday to the territory, adding to the military contingent that numbers a half a million, and extended strict curfews to the south of the Kashmir valley.

Kashmir, which includes India's only Muslim-majority state, has been the focus of wars and tension since the 1947 partition of India split the territory into Indian and Pakistani parts. Each country claims the entire region as its own.

June's violence abruptly ended a nascent recovery in tourism and makes it harder for Mr. Singh's government to show that normalcy is returning to its Jammu and Kashmir state, where fighting has centered. Mr. Singh has made restoring relations with Pakistan a key objective of his administration.

Mr. Chidambaram said the protests were being manipulated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group that has received funding and training by Pakistan's intelligence agencies, but is now officially banned. To support the link, the home minister said that two people killed in a firefight with police on June 25 in the northern town of Sopore were Lashkar-e-Taiba militants.

New Delhi blames the group for 2008 attacks on Mumbai that led to the deaths of more than 160 people. Since then, India has been pushing Pakistan to arrest key Lashkar-e-Taiba figures including founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. New Delhi says there are 40 terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with more than 1,000 militants ready to infiltrate India-held territory.

A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry on Wednesday called the claims "baseless and self-serving."

Separatist political leaders in Indian-held Kashmir say the burgeoning protests are a response to heavy-handed policing tactics by the half-million Indian security personnel stationed in the territory of 10 million people. Ministers from Kashmir's pro-Indian local government have in recent days criticized security forces for employing disproportionate force.

Mr. Chidambaram appeared to acknowledge this concern, saying the government had instructed paramilitary forces to "exercise maximum restraint." Kashmiri people should refrain from breaking curfews and keep their children away from protests, he added.

The June deaths have also sparked calls within Indian-held Kashmir for changes to India's Armed Forces Security Act, which gives security personnel immunity from prosecution while stationed in Kashmir. Mr. Chidambaram said the act, which the United Nations and the state's pro-Indian government have charged is a cover for abuses, was being discussed at cabinet level. He declined to comment further.

Mr. Chidambaram met with his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik, in Islamabad last week for talks in preparation for a mid-July summit of the countries' foreign ministers. Both sides began discussions in 2004 aimed at fostering cross-border trade between India- and Pakistan-held Kashmir, while leaving the borders unchanged. Those talks broke down after the Mumbai attacks and are only now resuming.

Since 1989, more than 60,000 people, including many civilians, have died in fighting between Pakistan-backed militants and Indian security forces in Indian Kashmir.

Violence ebbed in the past five years as India effectively crushed the armed separatist movement. Local government and police estimate there are only 500 militants left in the state, half of them Pakistani.

India in recent years has made a big push to attract tourists to Kashmir. More than 500,000 people, mainly Indians, visited in the first half of 2010, double the total for the year-earlier period. But as tourists flee, there are also fears that some of the thousands of Hindu devotees from India who are set to begin an annual pilgrimage to a mountain cave in Kashmir on July 1 will cancel travel plans due to the violence.

"We've been holed up in this hotel," said Ramaswamy, a New Delhi-based health company employee. Ramaswamy, who goes by one name, decided last weekend on a last-minute Kashmir getaway with his wife. "What a beautiful place. But what a mess."

Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com