Indian army apologises for shooting dead teenagers in unprecedented move
Indian army shot dead two teenage boys in Kashmir Monday
• Over the weekend the military issued unusual apology
• It is highly unusual for Indian army to admit when it is at fault
NEW DELHI, India - The Indian army has issued an unusual apology after it shot dead two teenage boys in Indian-administered Kashmir last week.
The army took the unprecedented step of admitting it made a mistake when soldiers fired at a car they were travelling in on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday.
Indian media have noted that it is rare for the army to admit such an error so quickly after an incident and almost unprecedented for that apology to be made in such unambiguous terms.
A senior army commander based in the Jammu region flew especially to Srinagar to address the media and issue the apology.
"We take responsibility for the death of the two boys in Kashmir," DS Hooda, the chief of the army's northern command, told reporters late on Friday. "We admit a mistake was made. There was some information about a white car with terrorists. Obviously, the identity was mistaken in this case."
General Hooda promised an enquiry into the deaths would be carried out with "the highest standard of transparency", but his apology did little to quell local anger at the killings.
Tensions have been rising in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley over the killings. Indian newspapers including the Hindustan Times have reported that the army's swift apology was aimed at dampening public anger.
According to local reports, the car in which the teenagers were travelling was hit by 32 bullets and a senior army officer has said it should not have been fired at with automatic weapons when no threat was posed to the soldiers concerned.
Families of the youths killed have rejected the army's offer of one million rupees (US $16,283) as compensation, calling the offer an insult.
"The blood of my 14-year-old son is not so cheap that I would barter it. I reject this compensation," Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, one of the fathers, told the Times of India newspaper on Saturday.
Roughly two-thirds of is Indian-administered and one-third is controlled by Pakistan, but both countries claim the region in its entirety and it has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years.
The two countries have fought two wars, a limited conflict and countless border skirmishes over the region during the past six decades.
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