CHANDIGARH: A journalist, a policeman and eight nationalists were among the 22 persons killed in escalated violence in Punjab overnight Saturday, police said here Sunday. Over the week 61 persons were killed,

Four unidentified men of the BTKF were killed in a nine hour shootout with security forces in village Bhani Massa Singh, a report from Amritsar said. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the spot.

An unidentified intruder from Pakistan was shot dead by security forces at the Dera Baba Nanak sector of the IndoPak border.

Among those killed was a journalist, Bhag Singh Khela, the Jagraon based correspondent of a group of newspapers in Jalandhar. He was shot dead in Sherpur Kalan village in Ludhiana district.

A Punjab police constable, Sukhdev Singh and two civilians, Surinder Singh and Babu Singh, were among those killed in Amritsar district’s Doburji village.

Two unidentified persons were gunned down in Gharilia village and Swaran Singh fell to militant’s bullets in Mari Nangal village, police said.

Two unidentified men were gunned down by a patrol party near Sodhan village. The men fired at the security force personnel when they were asked to stop. They were killed in the return fire.

In two other shootouts in Batala district, two men were gunned down near Bhatt Pattan and Sri Hargovind Pur villages respectively.

A Sikh shrine in Upli village was raided and the priest, Kartar Singh shot. While escaping, the assailants gunned down two other persons, including a liquor vend salesman.

Also gunned down were Baldev Singh and one Ajit Singh in Batlana and Mahilpur villages in Ropar district.

In two other incidents, one Balwinder Singh was gunned down in a village in Patiala district strict also fell to Black Cat bullets.

Nine persons, including a special police officer were killed and 2 relatives of a police official were kidnapped in Punjab since Friday night, police said here.

The BSF killed 3 men and seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition in an encounter with 6 men trying to enter India from Pakistan near the Kakkar post in the Rania sector.

Three each of Ak74 and Ak47 rifles, one general purpose machine gun, 1 rocket launcher and a large quantity of ammunition was among the items seized from the spot. 3 others managed to escape.

A special police officer, Subegh Singh was shot in Goindwal town of Tarn Taran district.

One Bara Singh was gunned down in the border town of Valtoha in Amritsar district while Amar Singh fell to bullets in Dule village of Tarn Taran district.

Another unidentified person was gunned down at Valtoha and Joginder Singh was killed in Tarn Taran City. A woman, Rajinder Kaur, was shot dead in Pandori village of Ludhiana district.

A Black Cat gang kidnapped ‘Santosh Kumar and Gurmeet Singh, 2 relatives of a police inspector, H L Khullar from Tarn Taran area. B K Khullar, chairman of ‘the Quami Ekta committee’ (committee for communal unity), Jalandhar, and his 2 gunmen were among the 12 persons killed on Sunday.

In another major incident Rs 40 Lakh was looted from a branch of the Syndicate Bank in the busy civil lines area of Amritsar Monday.

Khullar, a fromer member of the legislative council (MLC) his 2 gunmen were shot dead near a park at Jalandhar when he had gone to ‘the Gita Mandir’. This was the 4th attempt of the life of Khullar.

The killed gunmen have been identified as special police officers, Jatinder Kumar and Tarsem Lal.

GANGTOK; The police said that the Sunday landslide in Sikkim claimed 36 lives, One missing person was later traced So far, 34 bodies were recovered.

The state government opened two relief camps providing shelter to 60 homeless people.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 28, 1990