The body of a Muslim man killed by Indian troops in Kashmir has been exhumed after his family insisted he was an innocent civilian and not a militant, officials said Sunday.

The Indian army on Wednesday said they had killed an "unidentified terrorist" in the district of Handwara during a forest gun battle.

But after protests by Handwara residents and claims that 65-year-old Habibullah Khan was a civilian, the army issued a fresh statement saying militants had been using Khan either as a guide or a human shield.

"I ordered the exhumation after Khan's family approached me," said Showkat Mir, the local deputy commissioner. "I have taken up the issue with the army. They have assured me that they would order an inquiry."

The exhumation of the body, which had been buried near the scene of the alleged gun battle, took place late Saturday with the family re-burying Khan in their own graveyard.

The dead man's son, Raj Muhammad Khan, told local reporters that Indian soldiers had abducted and then killed his father.

Police have been probing five cases since late 2007 in which civilians were allegedly killed by the police and army and passed off as militants in an attempt to win awards and advance careers.

In one case, murder charges against seven policemen accused of killing a carpenter and pretending he was an Islamic militant have been filed by the authorities.

Human rights groups accuse both Muslim militants and the Indian army of human rights abuses. The army says it probes all complaints and punishes those found guilty.

More than 47,000 people have died in the separatist insurgency, according to official figures.

(Source: AFP)