SRINAGAR, Nov 2: Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was sworn in on Saturday as chief minister of occupied Kashmir, hours after he escaped unharmed from a grenade attack by militants on his home.

Sayeed, a former Indian home minister, was administered the oath by Governor Girish Chandra Saxena at a 30-minute ceremony before more than 700 specially invited guests in a packed auditorium on the shores of the Dal Lake, in Srinagar.

Among those in attendance were the chief of Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, and senior officials of Sayeed’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including his politician daughter, Mehbooba Mufti.

Sayeed is to head a PDP-Congress coalition government in Srinagar for three years, before a Congress leader takes over for a second three-year period.

Meanwhile, violence surged when 24 people, including a politician and 12 militants were killed in seperate incidence, police said.

The surge in bloodletting came as the held state’s new leader, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, was sworn in as chief minister hours after his house had come under grenade attack.

Police said a member of the ruling Congress party in held Kashmir was killed along with two of his guards when militants attacked his motorcade in Srinagar.

Police said Mohammad Sikander Khan was travelling in his car with his guards when militants opened fire. Two police guards were killed on the spot, while Sikander Khan died later.

Around the same time, Mujahideen shot dead a policeman patrolling the Badshah Chowk sector of Srinagar, police said. A lesser-known militant group, the Al Madina regiment, claimed both the attacks.

Indian forces claimed killing a dozen militants in Sawjian area of Poonch district on Saturday.

Troops shot dead two more militants in Budgam and Kupwara district, police said, adding both were foreigners. Police said unidentified men abducted two teenaged Muslims in the village of Palhalan, Baramulla district, on Saturday and later shot them dead.—AFP