SRINAGAR, Dec 25: Indian forces killed three suspected militants holed up in a mosque in occupied Kashmir, ending a two-day standoff and sparking angry protests that injured dozens of people, police said on Tuesday.

“The siege is over. We have killed the three militants and rescued all the five civilians,” said Hemant Lohia, a senior police officer who supervised the operation.

Later, thousands of people gathered in the remote village of Palnu, some 95km south of Srinagar, to bury the dead gunmen and to protest the police operation.

Police beat the protesters with bamboo batons and fired tear gas and warning shots into the air to disperse the protesters, who pelted security forces with rocks and stones, said police officer Bashir Ahmad.

Police and witnesses said dozens of people were wounded, though neither could give exact figures. Each side blamed the other for starting the violence.

“Police fired randomly in the air as we approached Palnu,” said Javed Ahmad, who lives in a nearby village. “People started running helter-skelter, the streets were strewn with shoes and hats.”

The standoff, meanwhile, began on Sunday when police cordoned off Palnu after receiving a tip that the militants were hiding there, Lohia said.

The men — believed to be members of the Hizbul Mujahideen — took refuge in the village mosque, taking five worshippers hostage, he said.

Police flushed the men out of the mosque on Monday night with tear gas. As they emerged, a gunbattle began and the men were killed, Lohia said. Two soldiers and a civilian bystander were hurt.

There was no immediate comment from Hizbul Mujahideen. Lohia claimed that the mosque suffered only minor damage.

—AP