Sarpanch shot dead in Sopore

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 20

On a day 20 constituencies in the Jammu region went to the polls in the last phase of Assembly elections in J&K, suspected militants shot dead a 65-year-old village head in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

This is the third such killing of a panchayat member since Assembly elections began in the Kashmir region last month.

The police said Ghulam Ahmad Bhat, a sarpanch, was shot by suspected militants at Bomai village on the outskirts of Sopore, 55 km from Srinagar.

“Bhat was shot in the head by a youth outside his residence around 11.30 am,” said a police officer. “He was critically wounded and was shifted to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead,” he added. No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the killing.