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Updated: Apr 10, 2019 00:00 IST

Suspected militants shot dead a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader and his bodyguard inside the district hospital in Kishtwar on Tuesday, in the second political killing in the communally sensitive town since November 1 when a BJP leader and his brother were gunned down.

Police said the assailants fired indiscriminately at Chandrakant Sharma, 50, a pharmacist at the hospital, and Rajinder Kumar, his personal security officer, in the afternoon. Sharma was critically wounded and had to be airlifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu, where he succumbed to his injuries. Kumar died on the spot.

It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were or how they reached the hospital, Kishtwar deputy commissioner Angrez Singh Rana said. The assailants decamped with the weapon carried by the personal security officer, another police officer said.

“We have imposed a curfew in Kishtwar town and the army has staged a flag march. The army and other paramilitary forces remain deployed. Soon after the incident, there were protests but we have controlled the situation,” Rana said.

Sharma is the top Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh leader in Kishtwar who had worked for the security of the minorities at the height of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the early nineties. This is the third attack on him since then.

The attack comes two days before the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency votes on April 11 in the first phase of the general elections.

Kishtwar, part of the Udhampur-Doda constituency, is scheduled to go to polls in the second phase on April 18.

This is the second political killing in Kishtwar town since November 1 last year, when BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar were killed by militants. Violent clashes had followed and town was under curfew for over a fortnight.

According to Kishtwar deputy commissioner Rana, “RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu. At around 12.30 pm, unidentified assailants fired indiscriminately at Chandrakant Sharma and his bodyguard inside the district hospital in Kishtwar town. While his bodyguard Rajinder Kumar was killed on the spot, the RSS leader was critically injured and therefore airlifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu for specialized treatment but he succumbed to his injuries there.”

Internet services in Kishtwar region have been temporarily snapped as a precautionary measure after protests broke out against the government and police.

In the evening, some protests erupted in Jammu city in the general bus stand and Jewel Chowk areas of the walled city. Some youths were rounded up