Suspected militants shot at a Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district on Sunday morning, The New Indian Express reported. This is the third such incident in the Valley in a week.

Abdul Hamid Najar, the president of the Other Backward Classes Morcha in Budgam, was attacked near the Ompora railway station when he was out on a morning walk. He suffered bullet injuries in his abdomen and has been admitted to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and are conducting a search to find the attackers.

Police said Najar had left his secured accommodation to take a morning walk without informing the security, DNA reported.

Condemning the incident, BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur called the attack a “barbaric and an inhuman act.”

On Thursday, BJP sarpanch Sajjad Ahmad Khanday was shot dead by alleged militants in Qazigund area of Kulgam, The Indian Express reported. The attack came a day after the first anniversary of the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

On Tuesday, Arif Ahmad, another BJP sarpanch in Kulgam, was shot dead by suspected militants.

The attacks on village leaders come in the run-up to a high-profile function of the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institution and Urban Local Bodies in Srinagar, which is scheduled for Monday.

Last month, former BJP district president Waseem Bari, his father and brother were killed inside their shop after militants fired on them from close range. Ten policemen who were tasked with protecting the leader were arrested in connection with the murder. In June, Congress sarpanch Ajay Kumar Pandita was killed outside his house in Anantnag district.