Gunmen shot dead police officer in IIOJK

Gunmen in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) shot and killed a police officer on Monday, an official said, the latest in a string of deadly clashes in the disputed region.

Local fighters fired on a unit of India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the heavily forested area of Udhampur in the southern Jammu district.

"Security forces have been on a hunt for a suspected group of rebels in the area for weeks after a clash," an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said the attack happened as officers set up a new security post in the area, where there has been increased unrest.

India's election commission announced on Friday it would hold local polls in the region for the first time in a decade.

Voting for the region's assembly will be held over three stages between September 18 and October 1, with a total of 8.7 million people eligible.

Some see the polls as a critical step in returning the vote to the people to choose their leaders.

However, some groups, who demand independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan, oppose elections because they see them as lending validity to Indian control.