SRINAGAR: A teenage boy and two separatists were killed in a firefight with government forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir on Thursday that brought hundreds of local villagers out onto the streets in defiance of police orders.

Police said the firefight began after soldiers and police cordoned off a village outside the main city of Srinagar early Thursday, believing that two suspected separatists were hiding out there.

Both died in the firefight, which also killed a 15-year-old student hit by a stray bullet, and injured a second civilian.

"Two terrorists were killed in the encounter. Both were locals and belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba group," director general of police, said SP Vaid.

Vaid said villagers shouting pro-freedom slogans clashed with security forces near the site of the gunbattle, defying orders to stay indoors.

A second officer who asked not to be named said hundreds of villagers marched to the scene, throwing rocks at government forces in a bid to aid the besieged separatists.

Such scenes are increasingly common in the restive region, where Kashmiri groups have for decades been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Police claimed they brought the wife of one of the LeT ‘separatists’ to appeal him to surrender. "But he refused and was killed later. LeT fighters don't surrender," Vaid said.–Agencies