SRINAGAR, India (AP) — An official with Kashmir's state-owned telecom company says it has so far been unable to shut down 22 social media sites that the Indian government banned in parts of the disputed Himalayan region in an effort to prevent protests.

The government banned the sites, including Facebook and Twitter, after several videos and photos depicting the alleged abuse of Kashmiris by Indian forces incensed the local population and fueled anti-India demonstrations in recent weeks.

An official at telecom Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. said Thursday that engineers were working on blocking the sites, but so far have been unsuccessful without freezing the internet across the region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to give technical details of the effort to the media.