Government employee gunned down in Kashmir

Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a health department employee in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town, police said.

Assailants on Tuesday shot dead a health department employee in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town, police said.

"Unidentified gunmen fired from close range at Muhammad Altaf Sheikh near the bus stop in Sopore town today (Tuesday)," a senior police officer told IANS.

Sheikh was taken to a hospital in a critical condition where doctors declared him dead.

An FIR has been lodged, the officer added.

Police sources said Sheikh, 45, a resident of Iqbal Nagar, was affiliated with the hardline Hurriyat group headed by Syed Ali Geelani.

No group has yet taken responsibility for the murder.