Militants have shot dead three young workers of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in India-administered Kashmir in the latest violence targeting members of the country's ruling party, officials say.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bharatiya Janata Party workers, including a local youth wing leader, were travelling in a car in the Kulgam district on Thursday night, when insurgents fired on them, local police said.
The trio were taken to a hospital where they were declared dead on arrival, police said, adding that a search for the militants had been launched.
Modi condemned the killings.
"They were bright youngsters doing excellent work in Jammu and Kashmir. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls rest in peace," Modi said on Twitter.
Several BJP workers have been killed in militant attacks in the insurgency-torn region in the recent months.
In July, a local president of BJP, his father and brother were killed by rebels in Bandipora. A month later, a BJP village council chief was shot dead by the militants.
Modi's Hindu nationalist party last year abrogated laws that gave the predominantly Muslim region greater autonomy, saying the move would help integrate the region with the country and bring faster development.
Authorities also changed laws allowing people from the rest of the country to buy land in the disputed region, adding to the anger among local Kashmiris.
Indian-administered Kashmir has seen a separatist insurgency since the 1980s in which tens of thousands of people have been killed. India claims that Pakistan supports the militants, a charge Islamabad denies, calling them freedom fighters.
Australian Associated Press