SRINAGAR, April 17: Fourteen people died on Saturday in violence in occupied Kashmir ahead of upcoming elections, as 22 freedom fighters surrendered, police said.

An army soldier was killed and two others injured in an ambush as they studied security preparations in northern Baramulla district, which goes to the polls on Tuesday in five-phase national elections, a police spokesman said. The soldiers retaliated killing two Kashmiris, he said.

The first of some 36,000 state government employees who will work as polling staff reported for duty around the troubled territory on Saturday ahead of the vote, which is being boycotted by freedom fighters.

Police said nine rebels and an army officer died in further violence overnight and Saturday and suspected Mujahideen killed a former freedom fighter who had surrendered to the army.

Twenty-two other Mujahideen surrendered to security forces on Saturday in Doda district, handing over a haul of arms including 12 AK-47 rifles and 20 grenades, defence spokesman Manjit Singh said. The Kashmiris, who ranged in age from 16 to 28 years, included eight who belonged to Lashkar-i-Taiba, a police statement said.-AFP