AMRITSAR, Punjab, India: Feb. 8, Reuter: A local leader of the Communist Party of India and one of his coworkers were among six people killed overnight by gunmen, police said on Monday.

Chanchal Singh, 40, a district party secretary, two of his nephews and coworker Avtar Singh, 50, were shot dead by a gang at Lohar village, they said.

The Khalistan Liberation front fighting for an independent Sikh state in Punjab was blamed for the killings by the police.

In other incidents, another group Claimed’ responsibility for killing a Sikh named Mukhtiar Singh, and the body of Home Guard Jagir Singh was found in a village near the Sikh holy city of Amritsar.

Violence has claimed an average of nearly five lives a day since the beginning of this year.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 12, 1988