Kashmir tensions high after deaths of men ‘used as human shields’

Indian police say four men killed in shootout were militants but families say gunfight was staged and they were innocent civilians

Tensions in the Indian state of Kashmir remain on a knife edge after a shootout by the Indian authorities this week left four people dead, with families alleging the gunfight was staged and that police used innocent civilians as a human shield".

Police initially described the incident, which took place on Monday when officers raided a shopping complex, as a counter-insurgency operation in which two militants and their associates had been killed in a shootout.