An Indian human rights commission is urging a probe into mass graves found in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

India's Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission last month said a three-year investigation had uncovered more than 2,000 unidentified bodies in 38 sites throughout the Himalayan region.

The commission on Friday said it has asked the state government to investigate the unmarked graves and try to determine who is buried in them.

The panel says it is acting on a petition filed by a local group that says nearly 4,000 people are buried in graves in the Jammu region.

Rights activists say at least 8,000 people have gone missing in Indian Kashmir since 1989, when Muslim separatists began fighting for independence from Hindu-majority India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Indian security forces have been accused of committing rights abuses while fighting the insurgency.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both nations.