CHANDIGARH: Gunmen shot down at least twelve people and injured several others at Tanda in Hoshiarpur district late on Monday night.
Three others, including a Congress (I) leader and a militant were shot dead elsewhere in Punjab during the past 24 hours.
Three gunmen opened indiscriminate fire from AK-47 rifles in front of former legislator Surjit Kaur’s residence in Ahilapur Mohalla at Tanda, killing 12 people and injuring scores of others.
Eleven of the victims have been identified as Husna Lal, Chaman Lal Sharma, Manjoor Ali, Ram Singh Saini, Dharam Pal Sharma, Joginder Singh, Kewal Marwaha, Nathu, Subash Mahendru, Vinod Marwaha and Bitto.
The condition of four of these was described as serious.
However, an official spokesman here said that only ten people were killed and seven injured in the incident.
‘The injured who were identified as Darshan Lal, Om Parkash, Bishan Das, Vijay Kumar, Ram Lal and Subash, former President of Tanda unit of Janata Party.
Mr. Vidya Sagar, Congress (I) president in Bassi Patana in Patiala district and Amarjit Singh, Lt. General of Commando Force, were gunned down in two separate incidents. A body identified as that of Banarsi Dass was recovered in Dugri Rajpuran village in Hoshiarpur district.
Three persons were injured in a shooting incident at Majaramana Singhwala village in Patiala district on Monday.
The Ropar district police arrested one Gurnam Singh and allegedly recovered a 303 pistol along with two cartridges from his possession.
Senior security forces officials, who reached the Tanda immediately chased the gunmen and exchanged fire with them. A report from Jalandhar quoting police sources added that the gunmen. Were still on the run with the security forces following them.
The ‘KCF area commander Amarjit Singh alias Tony was killed in a fake encounter. Twelve other militants were arrested from different places in Punjab since Sunday night.
According to reports from Tanda police station, casualty figures were likely to increase as a number of persons were injured during the indiscriminate firing.
With three more injured people being admitted to the Jalandhar Civil Hospital the number of those admitted here rose to six.
Om Parkash who was hit in the left arm, told PTT that the gunmen sprayed bullets with automatic weapons hitting a number of people moving in the bazar, While more than a dozen fell down, some of them tried to take shelter in nearby places.
The injured however failed to identify the number of the gunmen and the mode of transport used by them,
According to reports, tension was mounting in the area and more contingents of security forces were being rushed to the spot.
‘Amarjit Singh was implicated in at least six cases including the murder of kamdia Sheikh Sarpanch Parkash Ram, brother of Punjab health Secretary Darshan Kumar.
During a checking near Pipli-Rain village, in Faridkot district, security forces challenged five people who were approaching them.
The security forces chased them as they tried to escape and nabbed three.
The three were identified as Pardeep Singh alias Sharma, Surinder Singh alias Tiny and Bhupinder Singh alias Happy. One HE-36 hand grenade with detonator, two B 12-bore pistols and eight cartridges were planted on them.
Gurjant Singh Rajashni, KCF Chief and his accomplice Maninder Singh gave a slip to the police in Faridkot District.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 4, 1988
