The Indian military is to deploy female personnel in combat roles for the first time, as a response to the rising number of girls and women at violent protests in Kashmir.

The chef of the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat, said as soldiers had faced mobs of stone-throwing females in the disputed region recently, it was time to mobilise women employed by the armed forces in more operational roles.

He told reporters: "We have women in various service arms, like signals, engineers and air defence, as officers, but now the time has come to recruit them as jawans [combat troops].