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SRINAGAR, India, Thursday (AFP) political activist was shot dead and five others injured in Indian Kashmir ahead of the troubled region's assembly elections later this month, police said.

Suspected Muslim rebels overnight shot dead an activist of India's main opposition Congress party in the highway township of Patan, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of the summer capital Srinagar, police said.

On Wednesday, five supporters of Kashmir's ruling National Conference who were putting up campaign posters were injured when three to four gunmen descended from nearby forests and opened fire.

The activists, who were taken to hospital, had gone without security to the village of Shanu in the northern district of Kupwara. They were campaigning for Shariefudin Shariq, the National Conference's candidate for the Langate area of Kupwara.

The scene of the attack was immediately sealed off by security forces, who launched a search for the militants.

It was the second incident of the kind this week. On Monday, a National Conference activist was injured when militants opened fire at a party rally in the northern Baramulla district.

Baramulla, Kupwara and three other districts head to the polls September 16 in the first of four phases of voting for Kashmir's state assembly. The last round will be held October 8.

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