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A leading newspaper journalist and editor in Indian-administered Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar.

Bukhari, a frequent contributor to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News website, was attacked in his car near the office of the Rising Kashmir newspaper, which he edited.

He was taken to hospital but was later declared dead.

One of his guards was also killed in the attack and another is critically injured, police told the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

No group has claimed the killings but police say militants are suspected to have carried out the attack.

Bukhari described the threat to Kashmiri journalists in a 2016 article for ´óÏó´«Ã½ News.

"Threats to life, intimidation, assault, arrest and censorship have been part of the life of a typical local journalist," he wrote.

He was well-known in Kashmir and was previously a correspondent for the Indian newspaper The Hindu. He was in his early 50s and is survived by his wife, son, daughter and parents.

Read articles by Shujaat Bukhari for ´óÏó´«Ã½ News:

India's Interior Minister Rajnath Singh described him as a courageous and fearless journalist.

´óÏó´«Ã½ colleagues in India paid tribute.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for decades. It is one of the most militarised zones in the world.

The killing came hours after the UN's human rights office called for an independent inquiry into human rights violations in both parts of Kashmir, run respectively by India and Pakistan.