Clashes in Indian Kashmir over killing of suspected rebels

SRINAGAR, Feb 25 (AFP): Hundreds of angry villagers clashed with police in Indian Kashmir on Tuesday following suspicions security forces shot dead seven civilians they mistook for rebels, a police officer and a witness said.
The villagers torched a police station in the forested Kupwara region close to the defacto border with Pakistan to demand security forces hand over the bodies for identification and for burial, an unnamed officer said.
"Police fired tear gas and warning shots in the air to disperse the angry crowd who were hurling rocks at them," the officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.
A local resident, Manzoor Ahmed, said by phone that one villager was wounded with a bullet during Tuesday's clashes before paramilitary reinforcements were called in to control the situation.
He said villagers "suspect" that seven people killed overnight Monday were civilians rather than armed rebels, as rumours circulated in the area about civilian hunters who have gone missing.
On Monday, the army said it killed the seven suspected rebels in remote Dardpora village, 140 kilometres (87 miles) from the main city of Srinagar, during a joint operation with police.