10 cops arrested after political leader shot dead in Indian Kashmir

A political leader and his relatives were killed by militants in Indian-administered Kashmir following which 10 policemen tasked with protecting the family have been arrested, officials said on Thursday.

Sheikh Wasim Bari, 38, a local president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his father, Bashir Ahmad, and his brother, Umer Bashir, were shot dead at their home in the Bandipore district late Wednesday evening, senior police official Vijay Kumar said.

Kumar said the militants, who escaped after the attack, had been identified.

A new militant group which calls itself The Resistance Front - claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said it is a front of the three major militant groups operating in the Kashmir Valley.

Ten policemen who were tasked with the Bari’s personal security and had been missing when the militants struck, have been held for lapses in duty.

“We are taking a tough stand against them for dereliction of duty and failure to protect lives,” Kumar told reporters. “It seemed like a pre-planned attack from the CCTV footage. All three were shot (in) the head from close range,” he said.

Besides Bari, his father and brother were also members of the BJP, which rules India at the federal level. Premier Narendra Modi in a telephone call late Wednesday night had expressed condolences to the family, senior minister Jitender Singh said.

Indian-administered Kashmir has seen a separatist insurgency since the 1980s in which tens of thousands of people have been killed.

India claims that Pakistan supports the militants, a charge Islamabad denies, calling them freedom fighters.

(AFP) Relatives and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers offer funeral prayers in front of the coffins of BJP leader Waseem Bari, his father and his brother, who were gunned down by suspected militants.