CHENNAI: Three newspaper employees died on Wednesday when their office was set ablaze by supporters of a politician angered by a survey which showed his popularity was low, officials said.

Scores of people armed with stones and petrol bombs attacked the office of Tamil-language daily Dinakaran, which published the survey, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Two engineers and a security guard died of suffocation, unable to escape because protesters had locked the building, district collector S.S Jawahar told reporters in Madurai district, where the attack took place.

“We have recovered the bodies,” the official said.

Protests also erupted in other parts of the state, of which Chennai is the capital. The protesters were upset over the findings of a survey published by the newspaper that showed little support for their leader M.K. Azhagiri, but high ratings for his brother and bitter rival in state politics.

Both political leaders are the sons of Tamil Nadu's chief minister and popular leader K. Karunanidhi, and are seen as his possible successors. Mob violence because of political loyalties is not uncommon in Tamil Nadu. This year, a court sentenced three political workers to death and 25 others to jail terms for a firebomb attack on a bus that killed three students after an opposition party protested over the conviction of their leader in a corruption case seven years ago.

—AFP