SRINAGAR - Three men were killed in Kashmir region on Monday, police said, in attacks ahead of general election this week.
The execution-style attacks targeted two village council heads in the Anantnag district in the broad Kashmir valley to the south of Srinagar.
The police and army launched a combined operation to find the freedom fighters blamed for the attacks, the most serious in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority province, of this election season. "Two village headmen are among three persons killed ahead of polls in South Kashmir's Anantnag constituency tonight," Deputy Superintendent of Police Pervaiz Ahmad told Reuters. "Village headman Mohammad Anwar Sheikh of Amlar Tral was killed at around 9 p.m. while in another village, Batgund Tral, a village headman, and his son were shot dead by militants," he said.