CHANDIGARH, India: Reuter: Gunmen sped through three Punjab villages on scorers on Saturday night, killing eight people in the north Indian state, police said.
The gunmen poured automatic fire into homes in the villages near Amritsar. The victims, all Sikh peasants, included a man, his two sons and daughter and another man and his two sons.
Militants, who want an independent Sikh homeland in’ the State, have intensified their campaign since the start of the year, killing policemen and police it formers. Saturday’s killings brought the death toll this month to at least 60.
Militant sources, however, said that plain clothed policemen were killing innocent Sikh peasants to createSS reaction against the freedom fighters. This strategy won’t work, they said, because people know better.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 19, 1988
