Activists killed as Kashmir violence intensifies

Relatives of political activist Ali Mohammad Dar wail over his body after he was gunned down in Srinagar, India

SRINAGAR, Indian-administered Kashmir (CNN) -- A political activist for Kashmir's ruling National Conference party was shot and killed by suspected militants in Srinagar in the latest of a string of attacks in the disputed Himalayan region.

Ali Mohammad Dar was one of at least seven people killed in the past two days. Another 18 people were wounded in Indian-controlled Kashmir as provincial elections prepared to move into a second phase.

The latest incidents are believed to be part of a wave of election-related violence that has left hundreds dead and perpetrated by militants opposed to Indian rule, police sources said.

A second National Conference candidate was also shot dead by militants Wednesday in Jamalatt a town in southern Kashmir, police said.

In Baramullah in northern Kashmir, two civilians and one militant died in a gunbattle, prompting a protest by several hundred people demanding an inquiry into the civilian deaths.

Editor shot

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In another incident Tuesday, two militant gunmen opened fire on Sofi Ghulam Mohammad, editor of the "Srinagar Times", a prominent Urdu daily.

Sofi told CNN that the men came to his office located in his residence on the pretext that they wanted to talk to him.

"One of them told me they had come from a nearby locality while the other immediately took out his pistol and fired," Sofi said. "I jumped and bullets hit my right hand. They fired on my guard also who was also hit."

Sofi was discharged from the hospital after treatment, however his bodyguard remains hospitalized with bone and joint injuries. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

'Elections a success'

Earlier violence did not deter India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from hailing the first stage of the elections a success.

Speaking from Switzerland, Vajpayee said India, which has fought two of its three wars with Pakistan over Kashmir, had delivered on its promise of free and fair elections.

Keen to portray the election as an endorsement of its rule in the state, he hailed the first round of polling as a vote for the ballot over the bullet and a rebuff to neighboring Pakistan.

"It was free and fair with a reasonably good turnout," he told reporters in Zurich after Monday's poll for seats in a new assembly in India's only Muslim-majority state.

Voting staggered

Voting for the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir state assembly is being staggered to allow India to put adequate security in place.

For the first phase, 45,000 security personnel were deployed.

The second phase of voting begins in Srinagar Tuesday, September 24. The election's final phase will be on October 8.

Since India first announced in August that it would hold the elections, some 300 people have been killed by militants.