SRINAGAR; A day after the army claimed it killed seven militants in north Kashmir, the local residents demonstrated and clashed with the police, saying the deceased were civilians who had gone to collect firewood in a nearby forest.

Demanding the bodies of the dead persons for burial, villagers in Lolab area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district threw stones at the police and attempted to set afire a building in Lolab Police Station.

A few reporters covering the protests were also injured in the clash. The police fired in aerial to control the protesters, who said the seven men, dubbed militants by the army, had gone to the forest to collect firewood.

A Srinagar-based army spokesman on Monday said,"An army patrol part which was dominating the general area Dardpura, Lolab, was fired upon (around 2:40pm). The patrol retaliated by effective firing resulting in killing of seven militants."

"A cache of arms and ammunition have been recovered.  The identity of the slain militants is being ascertained," the spokesman had said.

"Police has handed over the bodies of the slain militants to the locals, as demanded by them," said a Srinagar-based police spokesman.

Police however did not comment about the identity of the militants.

"We were still trying to ascertain their identity," the spokesman added.