AMRITSAR, Punjab, India: March 13, Reuter: Gunmen abducted two Communist activists from their home near the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, took them to the house of a village headman and shot all three in cold blood, police said on Sunday.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) members, identified as Chanchal and Iqbal Singh, died on the spot but headman, Gurdial Singh, survived with serious injuries,
Police said the six killers escaped.
In Amritsar itself, rarely a target three gunmen opened fire on a group of Hindus playing cards in a market.
Two Hindus were killed and five injured three critically.
A head constable and two villagers — a Sikh and a Hindu were also killed in other parts of Punjab, police said.
More than 350 people have died in violence this year, raising expectations New Delhi will announce a state of emergency in the northwestern state bordering Pakistan.
Two freedom fighters died in other incidents early on Sunday. In ‘one, police raided a farmhouse outside Amritsar and shot dead one of four Sikh suspects sheltering there.
In the other incident, a Sikh was beaten to death by angry villagers after he and another man tried to take over a headman’s house in Faridkot district.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 18, 1988
