AHMEDABAD, May 18: The Indian navy shot dead three Pakistani fishermen after their boat strayed into its territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, a navy spokesman said on Tuesday.

A naval patrol fired at a boat carrying the fishermen, about 10 nautical miles within the Indian side of the international border line on Monday, Indian Navy spokesman T.K. Singha said.

"The patrolling team fired at the fishermen as they did not pay heed to repeated warnings and firing of flares," Mr Singha said. Manoj Shashidhar, superintendent of police in the western state of Gujarat, said a fisherman with bullet wounds was admitted to hospital in the port town of Okha, 450km south of Ahmedabad, and five were in police custody.

Fishermen from Pakistan and India often stray into each other's territorial waters and are imprisoned, but the shooting of fishermen was a rare incident, officials said. -Reuters