125 Extremists Surrender at Sikh Temple, but Some Remain Inside

About 125 men, most of them Sikh extremists, surrendered to police Sunday after Indian security forces fired hundreds of rounds from machine guns and automatic rifles into the besieged Golden Temple complex.

Punjab Police Chief K. P. S. Gill said 40 to 50 Sikh extremists were still holed up in the temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine. Four bodies were carried out of the temple Sunday, raising to at least 35 the number of people who have died since the siege began. All but five were believed to be militants.

Police said 18 women and eight children, all believed to be relatives of the militants, also walked from the temple compound, which has been surrounded for a week by 2,800 soldiers and police.

Among those who surrendered was Surjit Singh Penta, 24, a fugitive wanted for killing more than 150 people, including 30 in attacks in New Delhi last year. Police said that when he was recognized by security officers, Penta asked for a glass of water and used it to down poison. He died later at a local hospital.

Sikh radicals, who launched their guerrilla campaign for a separate homeland in 1982, have been blamed for killing more than 960 people in Punjab state since the start of the year.