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At least 13 persons, including five soldiers and two ruling National Conference (NC) activists, were killed while four candidates survived attempts on their lives in stepped up militant violence across Jammu and Kashmir.
In separate incidents, four candidates contesting the assembly polls survived militant attacks, police said.
Two BJP candidates Haday Nath and Ghulam Mohammad Shah who were returning to Pulwama in south Kashmir after visiting their constituencies were ambushed by militants near Litter on Wednesday evening. However, the security guards of the candidates managed to ward off the attack. No one was injured in the incident.
In separate incidents, two candidates of the PDP, Abdul Aziz Zargar and Bilal Lodhi, also escaped unhurt in militant attacks on Wednesday evening.
Police said militants fired on Zargar's escort vehicle near Damhal Hanjipora in Anantnag district. His security guards successfully repelled the attack.
Lodhi, PDP candidate from Khan Sahib in Budgam district, also escaped unhurt in a militant attack in his constituency on Wednesday evening, they said.
Earlier, militants had shot at and killed two ruling NC workers in Srinagar on Wednesday morning. Ghulam Mohammad Dar was shot at and critically wounded by militants in Koker Bazzar area while Ghulam Rasool Mir was attacked by militants near Rahbab Sahib in downtown Srinagar, police said.
Meanwhile, police in Jammu said that troops cordoned off portions of the Katar Mal forest in Rajouri district late on Tuesday evening and engaged some militants in an encounter, which went on for the whole of Wednesday.
Eight persons, including five soldiers, were killed and five soldiers wounded in the incident, police said.
In another incident, the killing of two civilians, including a lecturer, triggered protests in Kohilena village near Kreeri in Baramulla district has triggered protests, sources said.
Police said that the two civilians died in the cross fire when they had engaged a militant in an encounter on Wednesday morning.
However angry residents took to the streets and have demanded an enquiry into the incident.
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
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