An army court had sentenced the accused, including a colonel and a captain, who killed three Kashmiri youth and sought to pass them off as Pak terrorists in 2010.Northern Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda on Monday confirmed the life imprisonment sentences awarded to six army men, including two officers, by an army court for the killing of three youths in a fake encounter in Machil, J&K in 2010.“The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen DS Hooda has confirmed the sentence of the Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) in the Machil encounter case,” PRO Defence, Northern Command, Col SD Goswami said.The six personnel – Col Dinesh Pathania, who was the commanding officer, Captain Upendra Singh, Havaldar Devender Kumar, Lance Naiks Lakhmi and Arun Kumar and Rifleman Abbas Hussain -- were held guilty by the SGCM which sentenced them to life terms in November last year.The six army personnel will now be handed over to jail authorities as legal proceedings have been completed by the army. An appeal can be filed in the high court such cases, sources said.The incident came to light on April 30, 2010 when the bodies of three youths were shown by the army as militants who were trying to sneak into the Valley from the higher reaches of Machil in north Kashmir with arms and ammunition. It had later claimed that they were Pakistani terrorists.However, it was established by the Jammu and Kashmir police that Shezad Ahmad Khan, 27, Riyaz Ahmad Lone, 20, and Mohammad Shafi Lone, 19, were unemployed youths and residents of Nadihal in Baramulla district.They were lured by Capt Upendra and others of the 4 Rajputana Rifles with promises of jobs and later shot dead in Kalaroos on April 29, 2010. The army men had wanted a unit citation and a cash reward, the investigation had found. Their bodies were exhumed on May 28, 2010.Following the alleged fake encounter, a Territorial Army jawan and two others were arrested by police but the incident led to widespread unrest in the Kashmir Valley, which left 123 people dead.Police had arrested three persons --Territorial Army jawan Abbas Shah, Basharat Lone and Abdul Hamid Bhat -- for their alleged involvement in the encounter. These three will stand trial once the army’s final report is submitted before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Sopore.Families of the slain youth welcomed the Northern Army Commander’s confirmation of the life terms for the army personnel. “We want all the three locals to be hanged. We will be happy then. They are the one who have taken the three youths to the army camp,” Showkat, brother of Shezad Khan told Mirror.