Kashmir officer kills colleagues

Stress has been blamed for violence among the security forces

An Indian policemen has shot dead four of his colleagues in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

The Central Reserve Police Force constable opened fire in a cinema that had been converted into a police camp.

A senior police official said the constable appeared to be under stress.

Hundreds of Indian soldiers and policemen deployed in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir have been killed in similar incidents.

The strain of being deployed amid a bloody separatist uprising has been blamed for much of the violence between the security forces.

The latest attack took place in a building that formerly housed the Firdous cinema in central Srinagar.

"The constable was not mentally stable," police official K Rajindra told the BBC.

The policeman was eventually overpowered by his colleagues, the AFP news agency reports.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says the latest incident took place while security forces are on high alert across Kashmir ahead of India's Republic Day celebrations on Thursday.