SRINAGAR: Suspected militants killed two paramilitary soldiers and wounded another ten after attacking their convoy in India-held Kashmir on Wednesday, a senior police officer said.

The militants fired on the convoy transporting Border Security Force (BSF) troops near the town of Udhampur, 250km south of Srinagar.`We had two fatal casualties of BSF soldiers, ten were injured in the attaclc,` inspector general of police for the region, Danesh Rana, said.

One militant was killed during a gunfight with government forces that followed the attack. Another was captured and four civilians taken hostage by him were rescued unharmed, Rana said.

He alleged that the captured militant was from Pakistan. `In our preliminary questioning, he has said he is from Faisalabad, Pakistan,` Rana told reporters. He identified the mili-tant as Usman, 22.

`We are going to find out what route he has tal(en, what was the target,` he added.

The accusation could further raise tensions between the neighbouring countries following a recent attack on an Indian police station and intermittentclashes on their disputed border.

Since 1989, several Kashmiri groups have been fighting hundreds of thousands of Indian security personnel deployed in the disputed region, for independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan.-Agencies