Boy, two militants killed in IHK firefight

HELD SRINAGAR: A teenage boy and two militants were killed in a firefight with government forces in India held Kashmir on Thursday that brought hundreds of local villagers out onto the streets in defiance of police orders.

Police said the firefight began after soldiers and police cordoned off a village outside Srinagar early Thursday, believing that two suspected militants were hiding out there. Both died in the firefight, which also killed a 15-year-old student hit by a stray bullet, and injured a second civilian.

"Two terrorists were killed in the encounter," director general of police, SP Vaid said. Vaid said villagers shouting pro-freedom slogans clashed with security forces near the site of the gunbattle, defying orders to stay indoors.

A second officer who asked not to be named said hundreds of villagers marched to the scene, throwing rocks at government forces in a bid to aid the besieged militants. Police said they brought the wife of one militants to appeal him to surrender. "But he refused and was killed later. The militants don’t surrender," Vaid said.