Fifteen killed in militant attacks on Kashmir elections

SRINAGAR, India -- Militants struck polling stations, set off explosions and fired on security forces in Indian Kashmir on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people in the third and most violent round of balloting for the state legislature.

More than 135 political activists, candidates, soldiers and civilians have died since the elections were announced in August. Nevertheless, 41 percent of registered voters in the disputed Himalayan province braved the violence and ignored a separatist call for a boycott.

Minutes before the polls opened, suspected Islamic militants killed nine people in a raid on a bus near the Pakistan border in Kashmir's Kathua district. Thousands of Indian soldiers patrolled the region's militant heartland to secure polling stations.

Just after polls closed, six paramilitary troopers escorting poll officials were killed when their vehicle was blown apart in Panzgam, 35 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital. Four troopers were injured.

Pakistan-based Islamic groups dispute India's authority to hold the elections in the disputed territory and vowed to disrupt them by killing voters and candidates. The militants and Kashmiri separatists claim the elections are rigged to favor the pro-India ruling party, the National Conference.

The violence curbed turnout in two rebel strongholds, the Pulwama and Anantnag districts, where the federal Election Commission reported turnout at 28 percent and 25 percent respectively. However, 59 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the predominantly Hindu districts of Udhampur and Kathua, the commission said.

While the first two rounds of voting for the 87-seat state assembly were relatively peaceful, there were 23 major incidents Tuesday, including grenade explosions, shootings and bomb blasts, said Pramod Jain, chief elections officer in Srinagar.

During the previous two rounds -- Sept. 16 and 24 -- voter turnout averaged 43.4 percent. The final round is Oct. 8, with results expected four days later. The state has 5.7 million eligible voters.

Many people, as in the first two rounds, said troops forced them to vote.

Hundreds of people demonstrated against the elections and renewed their calls for Kashmir's independence.

Khurshid, a contractor who goes by one name, said there were few voters in Shopian.

"They will inflate the count in the evening on television, but that will be a lie," he said.

Federal and state officials hope high voter turnout will sap the separatist movement in the Himalayan state, the focus of two wars between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the region in its entirety.