Militants kill Cong leader

Less than a week after J-K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed survived a grenade attack in Anantnag district of South Kashmir while filing...

Less than a week after J-K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed survived a grenade attack in Anantnag district of South Kashmir while filing his nomination papers for the Pahalgam bypolls, militants shot dead a Congress leader and his bodyguard in the same area this morning.

A local Congress leader, Mohammad Yusuf Bhat, was driving through the crowded Chini Mohalla around 8.30 am when two gunmen blocked his way. They shot him and his bodyguard, Mohammad Ashraf, from a close range. An aged pedestrian, Haji Abdul Aziz, who saw the shootout, died of cardiac arrest.

Police say, the militants may have planned the attack. 8216;8216;Some construction work was going on at Bhat8217;s place for the past five to six days. And every morning, he was going to Chini Mohalla to hire labourers,8217;8217; DIG Anantnag Ravinder Kotwal said.

8216;8216;This area is pretty congested and notorious. Though he had three bodyguards, Bhat had taken just one guard along,8217;8217; he added.

State Congress president Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed said Bhat enjoyed a lot of support among grassroots workers in Pahalgam. The Congress had fielded him in the 2002 Assembly elections but had later withdrawn his name on entering into an alliance with the People8217;s Democratic Party.

8216;8216;We8217;ve an understanding with the PDP which stipulates we don8217;t field a candidate in the bypolls to Pahalgam constituency as our Chief Minister is contesting the elections. Bhat sahib commanded good support in the area and today he was shot dead,8217;8217; Sayeed said.

Violence has spiralled in Anantnag district in the wake of Mufti8217;s filing of nomination papers for Pahalgam constituency. Last Wednesday, the J-K Chief Minister himself escaped a twin grenade attack here, near the Deputy Commissioner8217;s office. The militant outfit, Jamait-ul-Mujaihdeen, had claimed responsibility for the attack on the Chief Minister.

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Kotwal said the militants do not have any definite strategy to disrupt the elections and the attacks are designed to show their presence in the area.