A 70-year-old civilian was killed and seven people were injured during an anti-India protest that erupted Thursday following a gunbattle that killed three occupied Indian soldiers and two suspected freedom fighters in held Kashmir, police said. A group of fighters stormed a military camp close to the heavily militarised Line of Control, army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.

They hurled grenades and fired automatic weapons at the highly guarded camp in Panzgam, north-west of occupied Srinagar, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media. Two militants were killed in an ensuing gunfight, while another was believed to have escaped, the officer said. He said three soldiers, including an army officer, were killed and five soldiers were wounded in the attack. The injured soldiers were airlifted to the Indian army's main base in Srinagar for specialised treatment.

There was no independent confirmation of the incident and no group fighting against Indian rule immediately issued any statement. Scores of villagers assembled outside the army camp in Panzgam in solidarity with the fighters and chanted pro-freedom slogans and demanded that the bodies of the slain fighters be handed over to them for their last rites, the police officer said. He said soldiers fired at the protesters after they hurled rocks at an army vehicle leaving the camp. A 70-year-old man was killed and at least seven others wounded in the firing, he said. Villagers said the slain man was not part of the protest and was hit by a bullet in the chest.

Copyright Associated Press, 2017