Unidentified militants on Friday afternoon shot at and seriously wounded a ruling People's Democratic Party MLA near his house at Pampore in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Abdul Aziz Mir was returning to his house in Pampore town after offering prayers at the mosque when he was attacked, police said.

The militants opened fire on the PDP legislator from a narrow alley. The MLA's security guards returned the fire but the assailants managed to escape, said a police officer in Srinagar.

Mir has been shifted to the Soura medical institute in Srinagar for treatment, police said.

This is for the first time that a senior PDP leader and sitting MLA has been attacked in Kashmir after the formation of the new government in the state.