Sikh Gunmen Kill 9 in Shooting Spree in City in Punjab
Sikhs resembling motorcycle policemen fired machine guns at an outdoor Hindu exercise class Friday during a bloody ride through the Punjab city of Ludhiana that left at least nine people dead and 13 wounded, officials said.
Mobs attacked police and set fire to vehicles after the attacks. Authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew on the predominantly Hindu industrial city 77 miles southeast of Amritsar. Soldiers were placed on alert throughout Punjab, a northern state of 18 million people. It is the only state in India with a Sikh majority.
Authorities said five gunmen on a yellow motorcycle--the color used by police--and scooters opened fire with British-made Sten guns at Hindu activists at Ludhiana’s Daresi grounds, a public field often used for political meetings and rallies. Four people at the public field were killed.
They shot at passers-by as they sped away, hitting several, and fired on a crowded Hindu vegetable market and at bystanders at an overpass.
It was the deadliest single terrorist operation in Punjab since a moderate Sikh government was installed after state elections in September.
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