Supporters of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front shout slogans as they participate in a candlelight vigil in Srinagar demanding the return of the mortal remains of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat, founder of the JKLF, to their families. Guru was executed on February 9 and buried inside the Tihar Jail. Bhat was executed on February 11, 1984.

Agencies/Srinagar

Suspected militants yesterday shot dead two policemen in Jammu and Kashmir which has been tense since the hanging of a separatist last month, police said.

The assailants fired at two paramilitary policemen from close range in the attack carried out near a bus stop in Kupwara district, north of the state’s main city Srinagar, police said.

“Militants fired at policemen who were discharging their duties near Handwara bus stand this morning. They were shifted to hospital where they were declared dead,” a police spokesman said.

The area has been cordoned off and searches have started in the town. So far, no arrest has been made.

Senior police and paramilitary officers have rushed to the town to take stock of the situation.

This is the first attack on local policemen in the Valley this year.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last month unidentified gunmen had killed a village sarpanch (elected representative) in Kalantara village of Baramulla district in north Kashmir.

The Kashmir Valley has been tense since Mohamed Afzal Guru was hanged in February at the Tihar Jail in New Delhi for his involvement in the 2001 attack on parliament which killed 10 people.

A curfew was temporarily imposed in major towns of Kashmir following his execution to contain unrest which claimed three lives, including that of a teenaged boy shot by security forces.

Many in the Muslim-majority state believe Guru did not receive a fair trial and there are fears his hanging could fuel fresh violence in Kashmir, where a separatist conflict has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives over the last 20 years.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.