AFP/Srinagar

Suspected militants yesterday killed two policemen guarding the home of a politician in Kashmir in the first such attack in the state since national elections got underway, police said.

Two rebels sprayed bullets towards the home of a National Conference politician who was inside meeting party workers in the town of Khrew, 25km south of the main city of Srinagar, an officer and a party official said.

“The two policemen died before reaching hospital,” the officer at the scene said.

The attack sparked a gun battle with government forces on patrol in the area that left both of the militants dead, the officer said.

Yawar Masoodi, a youth leader of the National Conference which rules the state, and the party workers were unharmed.

The militants fled into nearby mustard fields after snatching the police officers’ weapons. Government forces chased them, sparking the gun battle as reinforcements from a nearby army camp also moved in, the officer said.

“Both the attackers were later neutralised and the snatched weapons also recovered,” Inspector General of Police Nalin Prabhat from the Central Reserve Police Force said.

At the time, Masoodi was in a “closed door meeting” with party workers discussing election campaign plans, said National Conference spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu.

“These two individuals arrived at the gate. On being stopped for frisking by the police guards they suddenly took out weapons from under their ferans (traditional Kashmiri tunic),” Mattu said.

It is unclear why Masoodi, who is not an elected member of parliament nor standing in the polls, was singled out for attack.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the attack highlighted security concerns for all politicians in the state. The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead in the past 25 years.

“The attack on Yawar’s residence is evidence of the continued risk associated with being a mainstream politician in Kashmir,” Abdullah said on Twitter.

The district in the Kashmir Valley where the attack took place will go to the polls on April 24 as part of India’s mammoth elections that are staggered nationally over six weeks.

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