SRINAGAR, July 28: The Indian army said on Friday a Pakistani officer had been shot dead along Kashmir’s de facto border, citing the incident as proof Pakistan’s army was involved in the region’s long-running rebellion.

Mohammad Hyder Turkey alias Abu Bilal, identified as a serving major in the Nine Baloch Battalion of the Pakistan Army, was killed along with two other Pakistani nationals on Wednesday in Kashmir’s northern Gurez sector, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel V. K. Batra told AFP.

He identified the other two killed in the operation as Mohammad Qasim Khan and Mohammad Ayub Khan.

Amir Wasim adds from Islamabad: Military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan on Friday brushed aside the Indian claim of killing a serving major of Pakistan Army in held Kashmir and termed it a “fabricated and false” story.

“It is totally fabricated, false, ridiculous and concocted story and there is absolutely no truth in it,” said the director- general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) when contacted to seek his comments.

Mr Sultan said that India kept on giving such stories to provide cover to inhuman practices of killing innocent civilians and gross human rights violations by the Indian Army in Kashmir. “If this propaganda continues from the Indian side, the peace process would certainly be affected and if it happens, it will be most unfortunate for both the countries,” Mr Sultan concluded.