The body of the teenager was found in Kilora area. (Representational image)
A video of terrorists summarily executing a Kashmiri teenager on suspicion of being a police informer went viral on the social media on Friday, creating outrage across the Valley. The 17-year-old victim was summoned from his residence at Safanagri village in Kashmir's Shopian district the previous day, and is believed to have been killed hours later.
"On the intervening night of November 15 and 16, terrorists killed a civilian in a brutal act of terror in Pulwama. His bullet-riddled body was retrieved by police from Kilora," an official statement read.
Police have rejected claims that the teenager was an informer.
The clip shows the Class 11 student sitting on the ground, facing the other way in near-darkness with his hands presumably tied up. One of the terrorists is heard asking why he had gotten one of their colleagues killed. However, multiple shots ring out before the youngster can even answer, and he slumps to the ground motionless.
The boy's family said he had fearlessly gone to meet the terrorists on his own. "The victim's brother asked him if he wanted to go into hiding. But he said he wasn't scared because he had done nothing wrong. That evening, we heard that he had been killed," said a relative.
Terrorists in Kashmir occasionally kill people suspected of being police informers as a warning to others who may want to aid security personnel in the state. However, this is the first time a clip of the "execution" has been posted on the social media.
"The cold-blooded murder of an 11th standard student by the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit is deeply disturbing. There can be no justification for this act & should force those who sympathise with these outfits to question how these murders make Kashmir a better, freer place," tweeted former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
A number of people were killed on suspicion of being police informers over the last few months.
On August 8, Ishtiyaq Ahmad Wagay -- a shopkeeper from Jablipora in Anantnag -- was found shot dead in Shopian. The terrorists had allegedly videographed his "confession" before killing him.
Later that month, two terrorists barged into a house at Drabgam village in Pulwama district and shot a woman dead. The encounter killing of a Hizbul fighter at her brother's residence had led them to believe that she was an informer.
(With inputs from ANI)