A human rights group Saturday slammed a military court verdict clearing five Indian army officers involved in the killing of five civilians, saying it showed the military's "continuing impunity for serious abuses".

The five local civilians were killed in Pathribal village, in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, days after the massacre of 35 Sikhs in the remote village of Chattisinghpora in May 2000.

The army claimed the victims were "foreign militants", accusing them of being responsible for the massacre.

But a subsequent probe by India's top investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), described the killings as "cold blooded murder", paving the way for a trial in a military court held behind closed doors.

The army court's dismissal of all charges against five officers for the killing of civilians "demonstrates the military's continuing impunity for serious abuses", Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

The five were cleared on Thursday as "the evidence recorded could not establish a prime facie case against any of the accused persons", according to an army statement.

In its verdict, the tribunal did not dispute the CBI's findings that the victims were civilians but said they were killed during an operation "based on specific intelligence".

The Indian government "should urgently act on the recommendations of several commissions and repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)" which provides effective immunity for military personnel implicated in human rights violations, the New York-based rights group said.

Under AFSPA, soldiers deployed in Kashmir cannot stand trial in civilian courts without express permission of the federal government in New Delhi.

The military verdict has drawn strong protests in Kashmir.

Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of what is India's only Muslim-majority state, renewed his calls after the verdict for a change in the law that would remove the blanket immunity.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani said: "It is a living example of lawlessness and state terrorism, a slap in the face of the Kashmiri people whose lives have no value for the Indian army."

Kashmir is a picturesque Himalayan region, divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.

About a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or for its merger with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, dead.