'Rising Kashmir' editor shot dead in India-Occupied Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Unknown gunmen shot a veteran journalist and his police bodyguard dead on Thursday in Srinagar city of India-Occupied Kashmir, police and witnesses said.

Shujaat Bukhari, editor of an English language daily Rising Kashmir, had just entered his vehicle outside his office in the city’s press enclave when assailants fired several shots from close range.

“He (Bukhari) is no more. One of his two police bodyguards also died in the attack,” a top police officer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another police guard and the driver of the vehicle were critically wounded in the attack.

Fellow journalists were on the scene soon afterwards. Bukhari was slumped over in the the back seat, one of the police bodyguards had a gruesome wound to the head.

Bukhari was a protected journalist, guarded by two armed police round the clock.

Witnesses said Bukhari died on the spot while the assailants fled immediately after the attack.

Bukhari had been part of India’s delegation for informal peace talks on Kashmir with Pakistani representatives held in Dubai last year. He was instrumental in organising several conferences for Kashmir peace.

Condemnation of his killing in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, and condolences poured in from across the country.