15-year-old boy, rebel killed during fighting in Kashmir
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New recruits of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) salute during their graduation ceremony in Humhama, outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, March 8, 2017. A total of 126 recruits formally inducted into the BSF, will join Indian soldiers fighting separatist Islamic guerrillas in Kashmir to help end an insurgency that started in 1989. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) (The Associated Press)
Police say a 15-year-old boy has been killed during anti-India protests in disputed Kashmir following a gunbattle that killed a suspected rebel.
Senior police officer S.P. Vaid said the gunbattle began Thursday after troops cordoned off southern Padgampora village on a tip that militants were hiding in a house.
Vaid said as the fighting raged, villagers tried to march to the area and attacked government forces with rocks to help the militants escape.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Villagers said the troops fired at the protesters, killing a 15-year-old boy and wounding three others. Vaid said the boy was killed by a stray bullet.
Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the armed uprising and ensuing Indian military crackdown.