Attacks continue during elections

PAHALGAM, India -- Suspected Islamic militants unleashed a series of attacks Tuesday, killing at least 15 people, during polling for the third round of state elections in troubled Jammu-Kashmir state.\nAttackers opened fire with guns and threw grenades at a bus near the Pakistan border, killing nine people, while thousands of Indian soldiers patrolled the Himalayan region's militant heartland to secure polling stations.\nSix paramilitary troopers escorting poll officials were killed when an explosion destroyed the vehicle carrying Border Security Force troopers in Panzgam, 35 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of the state. Four other troopers were injured.\nWhile the first two rounds of voting for the 87-seat state assembly were relatively peaceful, there were 23 major incidents Tuesday, including grenade explosions, gunfire attack and bomb blasts, said Pramod Jain, chief elections officer in Srinagar.\nThe federal Election Commis-sion said that 41 percent of the registered voters cast their ballots, despite the violence and a separatist call to boycott the polls.\n"The poll turnout and voter enthusiasm would have been better had the violence not erupted," Jain said.\nThe turnout was the lowest of the three voting phases so far. The last election day is Oct. 8, with results expected Oct. 12. The state has 5.7 million eligible voters.\nMany voters said they were forced by security forces to cast ballots in the region claimed by both India and Pakistan, and the source of two wars between the nuclear-armed neighbors.\nPakistan-based Islamic groups that dispute India's authority to hold the elections have vowed to disrupt them by killing voters. More than 135 political activists, candidates, soldiers and civilians have died since the polls were announced in August.\nThe militants and Kashmiri separatists claim the elections are rigged to favor the pro-India ruling party, the National Conference.