CHANDIGARH, India, April 27, Reuter: Unknown assailants killed an elderly couple in Punjab early today and four other people, including a border guard, last night, police said.
The six deaths brought the toll this month in the continuing violence in the North Indian State to 81, according to an unofficial count.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said 80yearold Sikh Naranjan Singh Sewadar and his 70yearold wife were shot in a village near Hoshiarpur. There was no immediate explanation for the attack.
A police spokesman in Chandigarh, the Punjab capital, said Inspector K.K. Sharma of the paramilitary Border Security Force was killed when gunmen fired at a post in Atwal village.
About four assailants who attacked the post in Gurdaspur district about 20km from the Pakistan border, escaped before they could be challenged, the spokesman said.
“Personnel managing the post were surprised by the attack and failed to return the fire,” he said.
“Gunmen believed to be freedom fighters that are campaigning for a separate Sikh homeland in Punjab sprayed bullets at a grocery shop at Dhariwal near Amritsar, killing the owner and one other, the spokesman said. Another person was gunned down in a neighboring village.
Last week, police issued an alert and stepped up patrols against possible bomb attacks by freedom fighters.
Police said some persons recently arrested in Punjab had told them of plans to bomb social and religious gatherings of minority Hindus in Amritsar, scene of frequent violence.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 1, 1987
