Relatives mourn during the funeral of village council head Ghulam Nabi and his son Firdous Ahmed at Batgund village in Tral, some 40km south of Srinagar yesterday.
Agencies/Srinagar
Militants killed two local officials and another man in Jammu and Kashmir before issuing a warning to Kashmiris against voting this week in the country’s mammoth election, police and residents said yesterday.
The militants targeted two village council heads in separate attacks late on Monday in Pulwana district south of the main city of Srinagar, a senior police officer said.
“Three people including two village heads were killed by local militants active in the area and the attack is aimed to keep the voters away from polling,” Inspector General of Police A G Mir said.
“The attackers belong to the local militant organisation Hizbul Mujahideen, they were two in number and we have identified them,” Mir said.
Police were hunting for the attackers, who entered the home of one village head and shot him dead in Tral area of Pulwana district. They killed another senior village official and his 24-year-old son about an hour later in the same area.
Separatists have called for a boycott of the general election which ends next month.
Posters warning residents of punishment if they went to the polls appeared early yesterday morning in the Tral area where the attacks happened, according to residents who have seen them.
Voting in Kashmir is being staggered because of the tight security required. The Kashmir constituency which includes Pulwana district votes tomorrow.
The warnings were posted outside several mosques and in the main bazaar of Tral town.
“Be warned, voting for tyrants will entail punishment,” the posters say.
The rebels say in the posters that they have been compelled to change their “freedom movement” strategy from “defensive” to “offensive” mode.
A local resident, who did not want to give his name, said that “about four armed rebels appeared on Sunday in the main bazaar of Tral threatening people to dissociate themselves from those fighting (in) the elections.”
In a similar attack on April 17, a village council head was shot dead elsewhere in the state.
