Suspected rebels killed an Indian policeman and wounded two paramilitary troops in separate shootings Saturday in Indian Kashmir's main city.
The first attack occurred in Lalchowk, the main business district in Indian Kashmir's biggest city of Srinagar, when attackers opened fire on paramilitary soldiers on patrol and critically wounded two, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force.
Assailants also fatally shot a policeman on patrol at Batmaloo, an area about a mile (two kilometers) from Lalchowk, he said.
The shootings were the first time security forces were targeted this year, Tripathi said. Both areas were cordoned off so security forces could hunt down the attackers.
No rebel group operating in the disputed Himalayan region immediately claimed responsibility for the shootings.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim it in its entirety. The South Asian neighbors and archrivals have fought three wars, two of them over control of Kashmir, since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
Authorities say militant activity in the Himalayan region has fallen to its lowest levels since an anti-India rebellion began in 1989. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the insurgency and the subsequent Indian crackdown.
