SRINAGAR, India, July 2 (Reuters) - At least 24 people were hurt in Indian Kashmir on Monday when police fired teargas at thousands of demonstrators protesting the killing of a villager in an alleged fake gun battle by security forces, witnesses said.

Police in the revolt-torn Himalayan state in the past have been accused of murdering innocent civilians in staged gun battles and passing them off as separatist militants to earn rewards and promotions.

Over 2,000 people gathered in Kupwara town -- nearly 90 km (55 miles) northwest of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital -- shouting and pelting police with stones.

A police statement said the villager, 27-year-old Irshad Ahmad, was a separatist militant and was killed along with two other unidentified men in a clash near a security camp in Kupwara on Thursday.

But local villagers demanded an investiation, saying the police staged the clash.

"Policemen arrested Irshad Ahmad and two others and later killed them in a fake encounter," said Mohammad Shafi, a Kupwara resident.

In February, authorities charged over a dozen policemen and soldiers with killing at least two civilians in separate fake gun battles, claiming the civilians were militants.

The killings triggered widespread protests across the Muslim-majority region where officials say more than 42,000 people have been killed after a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000.

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