Srinagar: Militants on Thursday abducted an army jawan on his way home to celebrate Id before shooting him dead and dumping his bullet-riddled body, the provocative act coming a day before the Centre's month-long Ramazan ceasefire is due to end.

Police sources said the jawan's body, with gunshot wounds to his head and neck, had been found in Pulwama, South Kashmir.

The sources identified the soldier as rifleman Aurangzeb from 44 Rashtria Rifles, a key army unit involved in counter-insurgency operations in Pulwama that eliminated top Hizb commander Sameer Tiger in April.

Sources said it might turn out to be the last nail in the ceasefire's coffin as influential sections in the security establishment are against any extension of the truce beyond Id.

"Another piece of terrible news to add to an already horrible day. May Aurangzeb rest in peace...," former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

Militants had during the day shot dead Shujaat Bukhari, editor of the newspaper Rising Kashmir, outside the newspaper's office in the heart of Srinagar.

Earlier in the day, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, the defence spokesperson in Srinagar, had said Aurangzeb was proceeding on leave and was reportedly abducted in Pulwama district. Sources said the soldier was in plainclothes and was travelling in a private vehicle when militants stopped it near Kalampora village.

"Initial reports suggest that at around 9am, the soldiers at Shadimarg camp stopped a private vehicle and asked the occupant to drop him in adjoining Shopian district. It seems the militants were waiting for the vehicle. They stopped the vehicle and reportedly abducted him," an official said.

It's not clear who had tipped off the militants about the soldier, a resident of Jammu's Poonch district. The road to Poonch passes through Shopian.

The jawan's abduction and murder came on a day a soldier and two militants died in a gunfight in North Kashmir's Bandipore district. Militants also attacked a CRPF patrol in Pulwama district but there were no casualties.

A special police officer, Rayees Ahmad Lone, and his 12-year-old sister were injured on Wednesday night after militants barged into their house in a village in Shopian.