JAMMU, April 28: Campaign stepped up on Wednesday to derail Indian elections in occupied Kashmir, killing three and injuring 49 people in attacks on a rally and political workers, police said.

Two people were killed and 40 people were injured, with six in critical condition, when Mujahideen hurled a grenade at a campaign rally in the southern Doda district, local police chief Sunil Kumar said by telephone.

Witnesses said the Mujahideen also opened gunfire. Mr Kumar said the rally was held by the state's opposition National Conference party to support Khalid Najib Sohrawardhy, the state's former home minister, who is running for the Indian parliament. The candidate was not injured.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mujahideen attacked the motorcade of Mohammad Khalil, a communist state legislator, injuring seven civilians and two policemen when the grenade missed its target near the central town Shopian, a police spokesman said.

Police said an activist from Kashmir's governing People's Democratic Party was shot dead overnight when freedom fighters barged into his house in Bijbehara, 40 kilometers south of Srinagar.

Another party worker was abducted overnight with his fate unknown, police added. In violence not directly related to the election, Indian troops killed three Kashmiri fighters in two shootouts in the Himalayan territory, police said. Seven policemen and an equal number of civilians were also injured in a grenade attack on a security patrol in the northern district of Kupwara, police said. -AFP