AMRITSAR, India Police said they shot and killed at least three Sikh youths Thursday during a gun battle in villages outside this Sikh holy city.

Two other people were reported Killed and two seriously wounded in violence elsewhere in Punjab state,

Security forces surrounded three farming villages outside Amirtsar this morning and began a house-to-house search for two gunmen who allegedly shot and killed two Hindus at a flourmill on Wednesday.

Senior Police Superintend S.S. Virk repeating the usual encounter story said that during the operation at least three Sikhs were killed and several people were wounded in the ensuing gun battle, police said. The gunfire reportedly continued late into the day.

In Patiala City, police found the bodies of two Hindu farm workers officials said were likely victims of violence. Police also reported that two Sikh moderates were shot and seriously wounded in a hit and run attack north of Amritsar.

Scores of Sikhs were arrested across Punjab Thursday as the new state police chief pledged to battle “bullet for bullet” against.

Terrorism will be fought on a “a war footing”, Julius F. Rebeiro, the director-general of police in Punjab, said at a news conference in Batala, 25 miles north of Amritsar,

Rebeiro said his 60,000-member police force would “retaliate with its own anti-Sikh youth hit lists and hit squads.”

More than 100 people have been slain in sectarian violence the past month in Sikh-dominated Punjab.

In Amritsar Thursday, a fist fight broke out inside the Golden Temple complex, the holiest Sikh shrine, after one faction ousted rivals from leadership and tried to capture the party office in a coup. Rival leaders shouted abuses and tried to drag each other from the headquarters of the All—India Sikh Student Federation, A high priest intervened to end the brawl. The student federation is spearheading the movement for greater autonomy for Punjab, home of ‘most India’s 13 million Sikhs. The split between Sikhs at the Golden Temple reportedly reflects ideological and personal differences among the leaders. The group loyal to Harinder Singh Kahlon, who was outside ‘Thursday as chief of the All-India

Sikh Student Federation, has been quite active for some time.

Kahlon’s activists advocate an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab to be called Khalistan. Some of them are associated with a group called Khalistan Commando force, which has claimed responsibility for a series of violent incidents.

Members of this group told The Associated Press Thursday that Manbir Singh, chief of the underground group, belonged to their faction. The members spoke on condition of anonymity

The split was precipitated by the refusal of Kahlon’s group to recognize the ailing, 74-year-old Joginder Singh as the leader.

Joginder Singh is the father of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was Killed with most of his followers in the June 4-7, 1984, army assault on the Golden Temple, About 6,000 Sikhs died in that attack,

Article extracted from this publication >> April 18, 1986