The World : Sikhs’ Chief Priest Slain

Sikh extremists shot and killed the head priest of the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, police in India said. Sohan Singh was gunned down as he arrived for a meeting of moderate Sikh religious and political leaders in the industrial city of Ludhiana, in northern Punjab state. Bhan Singh, a senior member of the faith’s administrative body, was also killed and another administrative leader, Mal Singh Ghuman, was seriously wounded in the attack by gunmen armed with automatic rifles. All three men had been warned that their efforts to unite moderate Sikhs against extremists fighting for an independent homeland would end in death, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.