Reuters, Srinagar

Indian security forces said they killed three militants in Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar, on Wednesday after a gun battle, but families of the dead men said they were innocent.

India has been fighting an armed insurgency in the disputed Himalayan region for decades and killed more than 200 militants this year, according to official data.

It is, however, rare for families to immediately contest victims’ allegiance to insurgent groups. Police in Kashmir this month filed charges against an army officer and a civilian for allegedly killing three labourers and planting weapons to pass them off as militants.

Bashir Ahmad Ganai, grandfather of 25-year-old Aijaz Ahmad Ganai, who was killed in the protracted firefight in Srinagar, told reporters his grandson was not a militant.

“He was a student. Why did they kill him?” he said at a protest by family members outside a police office.