SRINAGAR, July 7: An Indian soldier shot dead his commanding officer before being gunned down by guards while eight people were killed by suspected freedom fighters in ongoing violence in occupied Kashmir, police said on Wednesday.

The incident involving soldiers occurred in northern Baramulla district, a police spokesman said, without elaborating on the circumstances. In another incident, a civilian was killed when he stepped on an abandoned grenade on Wednesday in southern Anantnag district, where troops and freedom fighters clashed two days ago.

Two more civilians were killed and two children injured when they tripped explosive devices planted by Kashmiri fighters in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch overnight, police said.

In other incidents Mujahideen shot dead three people overnight, including a member of the state's ruling pro-India political party. Saifudin Khan, a functionary of Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's People's Democratic Party, was killed by Mujahideen near the southern picnic spot of Kokernag, a police spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a Kashmiri was killed by Indian troops during a clash in Poonch district and a woman died in Kathua district when she strayed into crossfire between troops and Mujahideen, police said.

Meanwhile, doctors in major hospitals of Srinagar continued their strike for a sixth consecutive day on Wednesday in protest against last week's arrest of a colleague by counter-insurgency police, witnesses said.

"For the last five days no doctor has come to see our patients," said Ishtiaq Ahmed, whose wife was being treated in the hospital. The situation was more serious in the children's hospitals where so far three women and an equal number of children have died for want of treatment over the past three days, an official said. - AFP