CHANDIGARH: Fifty six rail passengers were gunned down and 30 injured some of them seriously when Indian govt sponsored gunmen Thursday night opened fire after stopping the Ludhiana Ferozepur passenger train near village Sohian in Ludhiana in the north Indian state of Punjab. Over the week 108 people lost their lives in the region
Four men stopped the five-LF Ludhiana Ferozepur passenger train which left Ludhiana at around 1715 hours near village Sohian between Ludhiana Jagraon and opened fire with automatic weapons.
However official sources put the toll at 59.
The senior police district and railway officials have rushed to the scene
Elsewhere in the state eight persons including Hardeep Singh Sandho brother of former Punjab ligation minister Harbhajan Singh Sandhu and four militants were killed since Wednesday night.
Sandhu and his driver Raj Kumar were gunned down near Dhilwan level crossing in Hoshiarpur district while returning to Amritsar Wednesday night.
Sandhu a businessman of Amritsar was on the hit list of militants. His brother Harbhajan Singh Sandhu who was also candidate of the Akali Dal (Badal) for Naushera Punnuan assembly seat was shot dead by militants on May 17.
A Pakistani intruder was shot dead in an encounter with border security force patrol party in Dera Baba Nanak sector of Indo Pak border. One AK47 rifle and some cartridges were recovered from the spot.
A woman Sukhwinder Kaur was shot dead in Tam Taran police district.
Three militants were killed in three separate encounters in Kapurthala Faridkot and Amritsar district while another consumed cyanide.
Meanwhile nine people including top militant Pal winder Singh Lt Gen of “Khalistan Liberation Force” were killed in Punjab Thursday night police said. The persons injured in Thursdays bomb blast at Ludhiana died at the local hospital Friday taking the toll in the explosion on 13.
Two of the blast victims who died Friday were identified as Ram Narain a lineman of the telephone department and a four year old child Vishal.
Ten people were killed and 26 injured when a powerful bomb exploded outside the telephone department building in Ludhiana city Thursday.
An Amritsar report said Pal winder Singh alias Sona was killed while his three accomplices escaped after an encounter near village Fateh pur in the district this evening. One AK47 rifle and some ammunition were recovered.
A militant was shot dead in an encounter on the out skins of Amritsar city. An AK-47 rifle explosives stick grenades and cartridges were recovered from the scene.
Another militant was shot dead in an encounter with security forces near village Fai pur on the outskirts of Amritsar city Friday police said. His tree accomplices escaped. An AKS7 rifle with two magazines explosives two stick grenades and cartridges were found at the scene.
“Two militants were killed man encounter with security forces near Verka by pass on the out skins of Amritsar city. Militants shot dead one Lakhwinder Singh in village Babachivind in Majita police district.
PILIBHIT: Suspected militants from the troubled northern Indian state of Punjab Killed 14 people belonging to three families in Madera village in the Terai region i the foothills of Uttar Pradesh state Tuesday night.
According to police militants struck in the village in Neuria police station area around midnight and fired indiscriminately with their Ak-47 rifles after entering the houses of the victims.
Senior police officers have reached the spot and a combing operation was on to trap the culprits who fled after the crime
Pilibhit was also the scene of a massacre by the police a few months back when 18 bus passengers alleged by police to be militants were killed.
The killings raised a countrywide uproar and the newly elected Right Wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised inquiry.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 10, 1992
