The army on Saturday faced allegations of torturing three tribal Gujjar men to death in custody in the aftermath of a militant ambush that killed four soldiers and injured three in the Pir Panjal region of Jammu.

As protests broke out, the Jammu and Kashmir government said legal action had been initiated and suspended Internet connectivity in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

The government has promised jobs and compensation for the next of kin of the dead, an offer seen by many as an admission of crime.

The search for the militants involved in the ambush continued for a third straight day but the rebels remained at large.

An army statement said: “Reports have been received regarding three civilian deaths in the area. The matter is under investigation. Indian Army stands committed to extending full support and cooperation in the conduct of investigations.”

Local people said the army had picked up several men for questioning over the past few days, including eight men from Topa Mastandara village. Three of these men died in alleged torture, with villagers claiming that a few others were battling for their lives.

The three dead men — Safeer Hussain, 37, Showkat Hussain, 26, and Shabir Ahmed, 32 — were from the region’s Muslim Gujjar community, which had played a key role in wiping out militancy from the area two decades ago, providing the forces with key information and sometimes participating in the action.

The deaths come just over a month after the armed forces tribunal suspended the life sentence awarded to an army captain accused of killing three Rajouri residents, also Gujjars, in a fake encounter in Shopian in 2020.

Graphic video clips of what appeared to be torture in custody surfaced on Saturday. The Telegraph has not been able to independently establish the veracity of these videos or their link to the alleged custodial deaths.

“Two of them (the dead) are in the videos. In all, eight people were picked up by the army yesterday (Friday) from our village,” Mehmood Ahmed, sarpanch of Topa Mastandara village told The Telegraph on phone.

“Three were killed while five others are injured and have been admitted to an army hospital,” he added.

Ahmad said the eight men picked up were related to one another. “The bodies (of the three dead men) were handed over to us early today for burial. We buried them after assurances of action from the officers present there,” he said.

Political parties in Kashmir staged protests against the killings, demanding stern punishment for the accused.

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who addressed a news conference in Srinagar, said the gruesome incident happened in a region where people are “peace-loving” and “never supported militancy”.

“From last two to three years, you have had militancy in the area where it did not exist. Locals are still not involved in it; all those (militants) killed were outsiders,” she said. “The fact is that the BJP keeps parroting that everything is fine here. The fact is, the entire Jammu and Kashmir has been turned into an open-air prison…. What kind of prosperous Kashmir is this? What kind of new Kashmir is this, where neither the army is secure nor the locals?”

“If the allegations of custodial killings are correct this is an unacceptable misuse of force & the protection afforded to security forces via AFSPA. Even asking for a transparent inquiry & punishment for any violations of human rights seems pointless given how those who are found guilty are released scot-free without serving their punishment...,” National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, currently on a sabbatical, raged on X.

An official spokesperson said the death of the three men had been reported on Friday from Baffliaz in Poonch district. He did not reveal who reported the deaths, nor what caused the deaths.

“The medico-legal formalities were conducted and legal action in this matter has been initiated by the appropriate authority. The government has announced compensation for each of the deceased,” he said. “Further, the government has also announced compassionate appointments for the next of kin of each deceased.”