Jammu, May 19 (IANS): Three youths were injured in a knife attack incident on Sunday at an election rally of the National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

The incident happened when the NC chief and former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was present at the venue along with the party candidate.

“There was an election rally by NC in Mendhar area of Poonch district today in which NC president, Dr Farooq Abdullah and party candidate for Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat, Mian Altaf Ahmad were also present. A scuffle took place between two groups on the sidelines of the rally in which three youths sustained knife injuries," said officials.

“The injured youths were shifted to a government medical college hospital in Rajouri town for specialised treatment. Doctors have described the condition of one of the injured identified as Suhail Ahmad of Mendhar as serious. The other two injured youths admitted to the hospital have been identified as Yasir Ahmad and Imran Ahmad," the officials further said.

These two injured youths -- Yasir Ahmad and Imran Ahmad -- fled from the hospital. The officials said, "They fled the hospitals for unknown reasons."

A case has been registered in this incident and police have started an investigation.

"No arrests have been made so far in this incident,” the officials said.

Meanwhile, people started protests against the incident in Mendhar Chowk and authorities were trying to pacify the protesters.