Srinagar, Oct 28: A day before European Union lawmakers unofficial visit to Kashmir, unknown gunmen shot dead a trucker in Anantnag district on Monday evening.

This is the fifth such incident when unknown gunmen have attacked non Kashmiris in this month so far. Five people including four truckers and a fruit trader have been killed in these incidents.

Confirming the incident, a police official said the trucker, in his forties, was shot dead when he was loading apples in his truck at Kanilwan village of Bijbehera. “The area has been cordoned off and manhunt has been launched,” he said

Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, and Security, Munir Ahmad Khan told The Kashmir Monitor that they were ascertaining the identity of the slain trucker.

“Incident has taken place at Kanilwan village. We are collecting further details”, he said.

SSP Anantnag, Altaf Khan too said the identity of the slain was still being ascertained.

“He (the slain) was in the middle of loading the apples when the incident took place. We are confirming his identity. He is a J&K resident is what we have so far learnt,” he said.

On October 24, two non-local truckers were killed in a similar incident in Shopian.

Unknown gunmen had fired upon, Mohammed Ilyas, a resident of Rajasthan, and Jeevan, from Hoshiarpur, Punjab.