Election Official Killed İn Indian-Held Kashmir

An election officer has been killed and dozens of people injured in violence during parliamentary elections in Indian-held Kashmir, police have said.



Unidentified gunmen opened fire on polling staff in south Kashmir's Shopian area on Thursday, killing an election officer and wounding five people, among them two Indian paramilitary soldiers.



"The polling party was returning from the polling station at around 6 p.m. (1230GMT), when they came under militant fire at Nagbal area and one of the polling officials was killed and five others were critically injured," Deputy Inspector General of South Kashmir Police, Vijay Kumar, told Anadolu Agency.



The Central Reserve Police Force spokesperson, Kishore Prasad, confirmed the wounding of two police officers during the attack.



"One of them has a bullet injury in his abdomen and another has suffered a leg injury due to a bullet," Prasad said.



'Voter intimidation'



Three days before the polls, unidentified gunmen shot dead the head of a village council and his son, and another village chief in South Kashmir's Pulwama district on April 21 in what is believed to have been an attempt to intimidate people from voting.



Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both.



The two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.



Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in the IHK have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.



More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict so far.



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