
A series of extraordinary photos show how hundreds of Kashmiri villagers who turned out for the funeral of suspected terrorist Shiraz Ahmed, who was killed in a gunbattle with government forces.

Relatives sobbed while other mourners covered their faces in grief, as the funeral procession moved through the village of Panjran, 28 miles south of Srinagar in India.

Three suspected rebels were killed on November 20, during an encounter with security forces in Tral area of Pulwama district in South Kashmir.

Hundreds of Kashmiri villagers turned out for the funeral of suspected terrorist Shiraz Ahmed, killed in a gunbattle with government forces

Mourners watch as the funeral procession moves through the village of Panjran, 28 miles to the south of Srinagar in India

The men were thought to be members of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group India believes is responsible for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people.

According to local reports, police said Ahmed transported militants, who were involved in the killing of Assistant Sub Inspector Farooq Ahmad.

The reports state Ahmed had been studying journalism in Islamic University of Science and Technology.

'It was his fourth semester while recently he had rejected a government job,' his father Muhammad Sultan told the Kashmir Dispatch.

Ahmed was thought to be a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group India believes is responsible for the 2008 attack in Mumbai

Relatives sob as the suspected rebel is carried through the village in a funeral procession that was watched by hundreds

Muslim Kashmiris prey before the body of suspected terrorist Shiraz Ahmed, killed in clashes with government forces in south Kashmir

'We are well off and are a part of fruit industry', he added. 'I failed to understand what prompted my son to join militant ranks when I was providing him every comfort of life.'

Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. The two countries fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the Himalayan region.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (translated as Soldiers of the Pure) is one of the most militant groups fighting against Indian control in Kashmir and believed to be responsible for a number of deadly attacks both in the Muslim region and across India.

The extraordinary photographs show hundreds of men and women who attended the funeral in the suspected rebel's village

Ahmed was one of three suspected rebels were killed on November 20 during an encounter with security forces in South Kashmir

Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both countries