Gunmen kill shopkeeper in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a shopkeeper in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said on Saturday.

Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, 34, was killed outside his house at Bomai village of volatile Sopore area, around 56 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Late last evening gunmen killed Khursheed Ahmad Bhat outside his home at Bomai," a police official posted in Sopore told Xinhua. "Bhat was returning home after closing his shop."

Locals said Bhat was a trade union leader and president of local traders at Bomai.A local resident Lateef Ahmad told Xinhua that Bhat had suffered bullet wounds in head and was immediately removed to sub-district hospital Sopore, "The doctors present there declared him brought dead," Ahmad said.

This is the second killing in four days in the area. So far no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Earlier on Tuesday, a 50-year-old government employee Mohammad Altaf Sheikh was killed in a similar attack. Sheikh was staunch supporter of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.

Geelani condemned the killing and described it as the " handiwork of Indian agencies."

Police officials said they were investigating both the cases and are yet to get an breakthrough.

The killings have triggered panic among the local residents in the area.

Last month a lesser known militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam attacked mobile phone towers and killed two people associated with cellphone companies in a bid to disrupt mobile phone connectivity in Sopore.

Geelani condemned the attacks and described the attackers as " Indian agents". Endi