The Indian army suspended two officers after police blamed them for the killings of three Kashmiri civilians in a staged gunbattle, a top army official said Sunday.

The civilian killings more than a month ago raised doubts about military claims of gunfights between Indian security forces and suspected rebels fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with neighbouring Pakistan since 1989, said Omar Abdullah, the top elected Indian official in the region.

Their families say the three men disappeared three days before the army announced April 30 that it killed three suspected rebels who had crossed into the Indian portion of Kashmir from Pakistan near the heavily militarized cease-fire line dividing Kashmir between the countries.

The army also claimed it seized five assault rifles and ammunition from the men.