A worker of the People’s Conference, a political party formed by separatist leader Sajjad Lone, was shot dead outside his home in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday. Ghulam Nabi Khoja was believed to be close to Lone, who is currently a minister in Mehbooba Mufti’s Cabinet and represents the Handwara constituency.

Police said Khoja was forced out of his home in the village of Kralgund by two militants at 8.30 pm and shot several times. The perpetrators fled and the family took him to a hospital in Baramullah district, where he died minutes after he arrived.

According to The Indian Express, this is the second political killing in the Valley in October. On October 2, a former sarpanch from Pampore district, Fayaz Ahmad, was killed in similar fashion outside his Kandizal home.