Education Minister of India held-Kashmir assassinated
Pakistan Times Kashmir Desk

SRINAGAR (IHK): Kashmir's minister of state for education, Ghulam Nabi Lone, was shot and killed in a raid on his home by Muslim militants on Tuesday in Srinagar, police said.

"He is dead ... when a suicide attacker stormed into his official residence", a senior police officer said.

Tuesday's attack comes as authorities in Indian Kashmir struggle to provide relief and shelter to thousands made homeless by the devastating earthquake that hit the region on Oct. 8.

Police said an unspecified number of militants scaled the wall of the 53-year-old minister's house from an adjoining house belonging to a communist MLA in the Kashmir assembly and one of them shot Lone.

After shooting Lone, the militants threw grenades at police guards, killing two policemen and wounding a civilian, they added.

One militant was killed when police returned fire. A police officer said shots were still being exchanged in the area near Srinagar's main civil secretariat.

Scores of policemen have surrounded the high-security area where MLAs, bureaucrats and ministers live.

In 2002, Kashmir's minister of state for home, Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, was killed by militants during an election campaign for the state assembly.

Militant attacks have continued after the earthquake with soldiers and Hindu civilians being killed in separate attacks.●