SRINAGAR, March 21: Militants shot dead an Indian paramilitary man and wounded two others when they ambushed their patrol vehicle in India-held Kashmir’s main city on Thursday, police said.

“One of the three BSF [Border Security Force] soldiers injured in the incident died,” Abdul Gani Mir, held Kashmir’s inspector general of police, said.

A BSF official said the three members of the force were hit when militants opened fire as they drove through Nowgam on the outskirts of Srinagar.

The ambush came barely a week after militants disguised as cricketers killed five paramilitary police in Srinagar in the deadliest attack for nearly five years.

Violence in India-held Kashmir had largely declined in recent years after an armed campaign began in 1989. But tensions have mounted since the execution last month of a Kashmiri activist.—AFP