Sikhs Kill 5 More; Riots in India Continue

Sikh separatists killed five more people today in Punjab and police fired tear gas, warning shots and rubber bullets to quell rioting sparked by the massacre of 24 Hindu bus passengers by suspected Sikh extremists.

An unknown number of people were injured in the Punjab violence and more than 125 arrested. In New Delhi, 2,000 demonstrators were temporarily detained.

New Delhi police said about 1,000 Hindu refugees from Punjab gathered in the western Nangloi district at about 9 a.m., blocked traffic, dragged Sikhs from cars and buses, and kicked and slapped them. They said the crowd also damaged 18 buses with rocks.

Police said none of the Sikhs was seriously hurt but several police officers and three demonstrators were injured and 25 people arrested in that incident.

Slaying Near Hotel

A police intelligence officer was gunned down today on his first day of duty by two suspected Sikh extremists in Batala, about 130 miles north of Chandigarh, as horrified witnesses watched from the entrance of a nearby hotel. The assassins walked away.

Other separatist gunmen killed the leader of Rode village, apparently for testifying against an extremist, police said. Three other men also were slain.

The unrest came as shops and businesses across Punjab closed in a near total statewide strike to protest Sunday’s massacre--the bloodiest attack in India by extremists of the Sikh religion since they launched their fight in 1981 to create in the independent nation of Khalistan in the predominantly Sikh northern state of Punjab. (Story on Page 17.)

Police said the only serious violence connected with today’s strike was in Jullundur, 90 miles northwest of Chandigarh.