Three teenaged boys who inadvertently walked into an ambush laid by security forces in the Kupwara area of Jammu and Kashmir [Images] were killed by forces who mistook them to be militants, the police said.

Security forces who had laid an ambush at Bagargund, 90 km from Srinagar [Images], fired on four teenaged boys around 2 am on Sunday killing three of them and injuring another, the police said.

Admitting it to be a case of mistaken identity, Kupwara Superintendent of Police, Sunit Dutt told PTI over phone that in the darkness the identity of the victims could not be ascertained.

The ambush, he said, was laid in the same place where movement of militants was common, and two militants were killed there about 15 days ago.

Those killed were identified as Bilal Ahmad Sheikh, a Standard V student, Wasim Ahmad Wani, a Standard VI student and Manzoor Ahmad Shah, while the injured boy's name is Shabir Ahmad Shah.

The killings triggered violent protests with villagers from Bagargund, Trehgam and Vilgam taking to the streets.

They said the boys had come to attend a marriage in the village and were killed when they had gone out to ease themselves.

The security personnel fired on them without any provocation, the residents alleged.

Senior administration and police officials rushed to the village to calm the agitated villagers who are demanding an inquiry into the incident and action against the erring personnel, official sources said.