Two days ahead of the seventh and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] assembly poll, militants on Monday shot dead two Central Reserve Police Force soldiers and fled with their service rifles in Baramulla district.

Militants sprayed bullets on constables Inderjeet Singh and S S Budhria from a point blank range in Iqbal Market near the main bus stand in Sopore town, official sources said.

Both were killed instantly, they said adding the ultras took away their rifles before fleeing.

The shooting sparked panic in the North Kashmir town, 55 km from Srinagar [Images], which was immediately cordoned off by security forces to apprehend the attackers.

No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The incident, the first major strike by ultras in recent months, took place at a time when security had been beefed up across the state to ensure peaceful polling in the last phase.

As many as 21 constituencies are going to polls in the last lap on December 24.