Brushing aside his brush with death as ``mere accident'', Marcos said ``I love Kashmir and would like to visit it again because it is very beautiful.''

``I just do not bother about this injury. I consider it an accident,'' he said, adding whatsoever may be political or other problems, ``I as a tourist would like to visit Kashmir again and again.''

His girlfriend, Christina, told reporters here they were on their way to their houseboat after visiting the Jamia Masjid when they heard a bang.

``I was nervous after seeing him in a pool of blood,'' she said.

Muhammad Ibrahim, who accompanied the couple as a guide and was with them at the time of the incident, told The Indian Express

that the bullet hit Peter when he had barely stepped out of the mosque. Ibrahim said the killers vanished easily in the ensuing stampede.

A senior police official said they were still clueless as to why Peter was targeted. ``We are exploring all possibilities.''

Interestingly, 40-year-old Peter, who was immediately shifted to the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS) Soura, said he had tested HIV positive. Thereafter, he was referred to the Bones and Joint Hospital, Barzulla.

A senior doctor at the hospital said, ``He himself told us that he had tested HIV positive. We have taken all necessary precautions. He had contracted HIV during his years of drug addiction.''

However, after being briefed by Intelligence officials, Peter denied he was HIV positive. ``I am a social worker,'' he said, adding he had not tested HIV positive.

According to sources, the authorities have changed the prescription file of the patient and kept the SKIIMS prescription a closely-guarded secret.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops opened fire at 10 border outposts (BoPs) and villages in R S Pura, Samba and Akhnoor sub-sectors in Jammu region, a Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said.

The Pakistani rangers began firing last evening at Chachuwal, Sangral, Mangral, Alfa Machal, Devra, Bobiyan, Suchetgarh, Londi, Chilyari and Khora BoPs villages, he said. There was no loss of life or damage to property, he said.