Unidentified assailants shot dead a panchayat member in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday evening, police said. Mohammad Yaqoob Dar, an Independent panchayat member of the Sundoo village was gunned down in Kolpora area of Kulgam.

Police received information about the shooting at 8.45 pm on Wednesday.

In a statement, the police said that Dar had sustained multiple bullet injuries. He was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his wounds, according to the police.

Muzaffar Zargar, the medical superintendent of the district hospital in Kulgam told the Kashmir Observer that Dar had been shot in his chest and neck.

The police said that a case has been registered in the matter, but did not specify the charges imposed on the unidentified assailants.

“Investigation is in progress and officers continue to work to establish the circumstances which lead to this terror crime,” the police said in its statement. “Area has been cordoned off and search in the area is going on.”

In January, a suspected militant allegedly affiliated to terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed militant and a policeman were killed in a gunfight in the Kulgam.