Suspected militants on Friday shot dead two workers of the National Conference and injured another in Karfali Mohalla area of Srinagar, two days ahead of the first phase of elections to urban local bodies in Kashmir, police said.

“The gunmen fired at three persons at Karfali Mohalla, resulting in the death of two of them and injuries to another,” a police official was quoted as saying by PTI.

None of the organisations have taken the responsibility of the attack yet.

The deceased have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Wani and Nazir Ahmad Wani. It is believed that they were close aides of NC MLA for Habbakadal constituency Shamima Firdous at Karfali Mohalla.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took to Twitter and condemned the killing of his party workers.

“I cannot condemn strongly enough the murderous terrorist attack against three of my party workers. Nazir Ahmed Bhat (working in the office of MLA Shamima Firdous) & Mushtaq Ahmed Wani have been killed. Allah Jannat naseeb karey,” he tweeted.

I cannot condemn strongly enough the murderous terrorist attack against three of my party workers. Nazir Ahmed Bhat (working in the office of MLA Shamima Firdous) & Mushtaq Ahmed Wani have been killed. Allah Jannat naseeb karey.

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 5, 2018

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti also took to Twitter and offered her condolences.

Pained to hear about the killing of two NC workers . My heart goes out to their families & children . Cannot possibly imagine what they must be going through .

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 5, 2018

The NC, PDP, CPI(M) and certain other parties have boycotted the elections. The separatists have also given a call for boycott of the elections and shutdown during the polling days that are staggered over a period of more than a month.

The incident has created panic among the Congress, BJP and independent candidates who were contesting the municipal elections. Several candidates have already witndrawn their candidature and resigned from the parties. A woman candidate of the Dalgate ward of Srinagar, Muzamil Jan, withdrew from the contest immediately after the killing incident.

Pradesh Congress chief GA Mir said that the government would be responsible for incidents of killings and violence as the Governor, Satyapal Malik, had promised security to those contesting the elections. The Congress would not let its workers being harmed and the party has already said that it can review its decision of contesting the elections if incidents of violence continued, said Mir.

Several candidates of BJP and Congress out of fear have reportedly witndrawn from the contest  in the Dooru and Verinag areas of Anantnag district in South Kashmir after the names of about 30 candidates were leaked despite assurance of the authorities to keep these confidential.