A Kashmiri teenager who made a cameo appearance in Haider was one of the three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir on December 9, ANI reported. Saqib Bilal Sheikh, 16, had passed his Class 10 examination last year and was a theatre artist.

Sheikh was one of two teenagers who went missing in August after three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were killed in Parray Mohalla in Hajin, a town in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The two had reportedly taken up arms.

On Saturday evening, security forces had cordoned off Mujgund on the outskirts of Srinagar and launched a search operation. An 18-hour-long gunfight followed, killing three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, including the two boys who had gone missing in August. One Army jawan and three civilians were also injured.

Protestors in Hajin had demonstrated against the killings of the teenagers and clashed with security personnel.

Sheikh’s uncle Asim Aijaz confirmed that the teenager had a brief role in Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2014 film Haider and was interested in acting. The Bollywood movie focused on how common Kashmiri residents get caught in an unending battle between militants and security forces in the Valley.

Aijaz said Sheikh’s role lasted 15 seconds. “There was a scene at Amar Singh College in which there were many children,” he said. “Suddenly a bomb blast took place and Saqib’s character was of the lone survivor in that blast. That was the scene.”

Aijaz said the teenager was a theatre artist and had appeared in a stage show as a protagonist before his cameo in Haider. “He managed to get an award and even went to Odisha to repeat the performance,” he said.

Sheikh’s family is not aware of why the teenager joined the militants, said Aijaz. “The DSP [deputy superintendent of police] of the area had promised us that they would let us speak to Saqib if ever they caught hold of him,” he said. “We wanted to ask him what was it that made him choose this path. We wanted to understand what forced him into taking up a gun.”