2 Time Bombs Kill 30 in Punjab; Sikhs Blamed

Two time bombs apparently planted by Sikh separatists exploded in an intersection packed with hundreds of pedestrians near the Golden Temple on Tuesday, killing an estimated 30 people and wounding 75 others, police and hospital officials said.

Hindus enraged by the explosions attacked Sikhs and hurled stones at police near the blood-spattered scene, police said. As a result, authorities imposed an indefinite curfew on parts of the Sikh holy city, 250 miles northwest of New Delhi in Punjab state.

Hindu fundamentalist groups called for a citywide strike in curfew-free areas today to protest the bombings.

The United News of India news agency quoted unofficial sources as saying more than 30 people were killed. A Western journalist counted 32 bodies.

Crowded Hospital Wards

Hospital officials said they received at least 75 people with wounds. They said there wasn’t enough space for all the injured, many of whom were squeezed three to a bed.

“The extremists have struck again,” Assistant Amritsar Commissioner Surabjeet Singh said, blaming the attack on Sikh militants. He described the devices as time bombs.

The bombing deaths brought to more than 50 the number of people killed in northern India since Sunday in violence linked to a bloody six-year campaign to create a Sikh nation--to be called Khalistan--in predominately Sikh Punjab.

Police said one bomb was hidden in a motorbike parked at an intersection across from the Golden Temple, the white marble seat of the Sikh religion, and the other was planted about 15 feet away outside a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, the god of destruction.

The devices exploded simultaneously at 7:05 p.m. as about 400 shoppers and area merchants were streaming through the intersection from three nearby markets that had just closed.

Stockholders Nearby

Large numbers of stockbrokers were also gathered on one side of the intersection, holding a regular nightly discussion of the day’s trading, police said.

“There was a loud noise and a splinter hit my leg,” said Om Prakash, a tea merchant, as he lay in a crowded Civil Hospital ward. “There was confusion everywhere. I saw some bodies that had been completely blown apart.”

The explosions followed an attack Monday night, when four Sikh militants armed with submachine guns ambushed patrons leaving a movie theater in the town of Pehowa, 80 miles south of Chandigarh. Six people were killed and 15 others wounded, police said.

The militants have been blamed for the deaths of more than 1,330 people in Punjab since the start of the year.

Sikhs make up just 2% of India’s 800 million people but comprise a slight majority in Punjab. The militants claim discrimination by India’s majority Hindus.