Srinagar, November 21:

Suspected Muslim rebels shot dead a top official of a leading pro-India party, the second killing of a politician in a week, police said today.

Ghulam Mohammed Wani, a leading member of the regional People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was shot dead late yesterday in northern Baramulla district, a police spokesman said in Kashmir’s main city Srinagar.

Wani’s wife is a municipal councillor and also part of the PDP, which governs Kashmir in coalition with the Congress party. No rebel group has claimed responsibility for the killing.