Militants struck polling stations, set off explosions and fired on security forces in Indian Kashmir today, 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 per cent 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.
The violence curbed turnout in two rebel strongholds, the Pulwama and Anantnag districts, where the federal Election Commission reported turnout at 28 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
However, 59 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in the predominantly Hindu districts of Udhampur and Kathua, the commission said.
