At least eight political activists and two separatist rebels have died in violence during the run up to elections in the troubled state of Assam in India's northeast, police said yesterday.

Six activists of the state's ruling party, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), were killed late Thursday when militants of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) attacked the AGP office in Bogrihati, 80 km west of Guwahati, a police spokesman said.

"A group of heavily-armed ULFA militants stormed the election office and opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons killing six party AGP activists on the spot and injuring as many," he told AFP.

"Two AGP activists with serious gunshot wounds died in hospital on Friday morning."

In separate incidents, Indian federal troops shot dead two ULFA militants in encounters in the province's Bongaigaon district.

The attacks are the latest in a string of poll-related violence by the ULFA in the run-up to the May 10 elections in the oil-rich Assam.