35 Killed in Sikh Blood Bath

Sikh gunmen stormed into huts and houses across Punjab state today and killed 35 people, including seven children, in the bloodiest one-day murder spree this year, police said.

The worst attack occurred at a hamlet near Pangota, where 12 gunmen raided the mud huts of a Hindu laborer commune and murdered 18 people. Fifteen were lined up and shot, and a pregnant woman, a baby girl and an 80-year-old woman were shot and killed in their hut when the killers saw they could not walk, witnesses said. Police imposed a night curfew in parts of the region and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered stringent steps to check Sikh violence, United News of India reported.