Sikh Sought in Bus Massacre Killed in Gunfight With Police
A Sikh extremist wanted in connection with the massacre of 22 Hindus was killed Friday in a shoot-out with police, authorities said.
Manjit Singh Khajala was the main suspect in the Nov. 30 slayings of passengers on a bus in the Hoshiarpur district. The massacre, the bloodiest single attack in the five-year Sikh separatist campaign, touched off anti-Sikh riots.
A senior police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said police were tipped that Khajala was hiding in a village near the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. The village was encircled. When Khajala was stopped by police he opened fire, the official said. Police returned fire and killed him.
Khajala was the chief of the Khalistan Armed Police, one of a number of separatist groups fighting for a Sikh homeland in Punjab state.
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