SRINAGAR, Sept 14: Fears of violence kept campaigners off the streets on Saturday, two days before elections in occupied Kashmir, as authorities pledged to ensure security without forcing residents to take part in the controversial vote.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead two more members of held Kashmir’s ruling party, police said on Saturday, taking to 24 the number of political activists killed in the run-up to elections.

Fifteen of the dead were affiliated with the National Conference, including law minister Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, who was assassinated on Wednesday.

Pro-India political activists have been shell-shocked by the daylight murder of the tightly guarded minister during campaigning for another term in the held state’s assembly.

The Srinagar government on Saturday announced an inquiry into how security personnel “failed to react” to the gunmen. Three of Lone’s police guards died in the attack.

Kupwara, where Lone was assassinated, and four other districts along the LoC are set to go to the polls on Monday in the first of four rounds of voting. The election ends on Oct 8.—Reuters