A 32-year-old shopkeeper fell to the bullets of suspected militants in a south Kashmir village on Wednesday, police attributing the death to the partial resumption of business activities in the Valley.

Shopkeeper Mehraj ud din Zargar was killed outside his shop in the volatile Tral area in the afternoon. He is the second shopkeeper to die in suspected militant action over the past three months.

On August 30, unidentified gunmen had shot dead a 65-year-old shopkeeper, Ghulam Mohammad Mir, at Parimpora in Srinagar.

Atul Goyal, deputy inspector-general of police, south Kashmir, said the killing was apparently carried out to “terrorise” the business community but parried questions on whether Zargar’s shop was shut or open when he was shot.

“He was killed outside his shop…. Perhaps it (the partial resumption of businesses) is the motive. Prima facie, that seems to be the case,” Goyal told The Telegraph. “It (killing) is just to create terror.”

Some reports had suggested the shop was not open when Zargar was killed.

Jammu and Kashmir police have in the past blamed militants for forcing a shutdown in Kashmir. No militant group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.

Businesses have been largely shut during the past 100 days in the Valley as a mark of protest against the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status but parts of Kashmir throbbed with activity the past three days.

The murder took place a day after Kashmir completed 100 days of the clampdown.

A police officer said Zargar was killed around 3.15pm. “He was shot five times and was immediately shifted to hospital where doctors declared him brought dead,” an official said.

Soon after the attack, police and other security forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area to trace the assailants who escaped.