The file photo shows Indian soldiers patrolling on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway after a gun battle with alleged attackers at an Indian army base at Nagrota, some 15 kilometers from Jammu, in the Indian-administered Kashmir. (By AFP)

Indian security forces have killed three suspected militants during an exchange of gunfire in Srinagar, the main city of the Indian-administered Kashmir.

Kashmir’s inspector general of police, Vijay Kumar, claimed on Wednesday that the three men, who were killed in Lawaypora area, on the outskirts of Srinagar, had been supporters of armed groups and were likely planning an attack.

However, the families of the slain insisted that they were innocent civilians and were killed in a staged gun battle. They protested in front of the police headquarters in Srinagar, calling the killings cold-blooded murder.

The latest incident comes months after army officials in the Indian-administered Kashmir for the first time ever acknowledged the breach of the standard operating procedure by troopers during alleged encounters in the disputed Himalayan region.

Back in July, the Indian army said it had killed three people in an armed encounter in Kashmir, claiming they were foreign militants.

The deaths, during a stop and search operation, triggered an outcry amid accusations that the encounter was staged to justify the killings.

A probe into the so-called anti-militancy operation confirmed that the three youths had been locals from the Rajouri district of Kashmir.

Also in July, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) said in its biannual report that the region had witnessed the extrajudicial executions of at least 32 civilians, besides killings of 143 militants and 54 armed forces personnel from January 1 to June 30, 2020.

India has stationed more than half a million soldiers in Kashmir to quell a pro-independence uprising that erupted in 1989.

Kashmir has been especially tense since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to revoke the territory’s constitutionally-mandated local autonomy last year.

Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, which have fought three of their four wars over the disputed Himalayan territory. Both countries rule parts of Kashmir while claiming it in full.

The Kashmiris on the Indian-administered side of the Himalayan region have been demanding that the region be given independence or be merged with Pakistan.