GUWAHATI, India One woman was killed in India's Manipur State late Thursday in police action to disperse a protest by thousands of torch-carrying women in defiance of a curfew, a report said.

Several thousands of women took to the streets of the capital Imphal holding flaming torches in a massive demonstration against New Delhi's extension last month of a cease-fire with separatists, the Press Trust of India reported.

A 55-year-old woman was killed and about 40 others injured when police used wooden batons and tear gas to beat back the protestors, the agency said.

Security forces also fired into the air to end the demonstration, held in defiance of a shoot-on-sight curfew.

The army and paramilitary forces erected barricades at several entry points to the city to try to keep the women out and posted guards at key government buildings.

The protesters shouted slogans such as "Kill as Many as You Want but We'll Shed More Blood to Protect Our Territory", "Withdraw the Cease-Fire", and "Don't Divide People in Manipur".

According to an AFP report, on June 14 New Delhi extended a four-year-old cease-fire with a faction of the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland.

The agreement triggered fears New Delhi might be considering carving slices off the neighboring states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur -- all of which have sizable Naga populations -- to create a greater Nagaland.

On June 18, up to 5,000 protestors went on a rampage to vent their anger about the extension, burning the state legislature to the ground along with political party offices and official residences.

Police opened fire on the protestors, killing 13 and wounding more than 50. four later died in hospital.