Bomb Blasts in Northern India Kill 23; Sikh Radicals Blamed
Three bombs exploded today in northern India, killing at least 23 people and injuring 64, police and witnesses said.
Police blamed the blasts on radicals fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in the northern state of Punjab.
The radicals also were blamed for 13 deaths in Punjab, raising the 24-hour toll in Sikh-related violence to 36, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Two bombs exploded within 10 minutes of each other in the town of Pathankot, about 100 miles northeast of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, police said.
In neighboring Jammu-Kashmir state, a time bomb went off in a state-owned bus traveling from Pathankot to Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. The blast killed at least 13 passengers and injured 34, officials said.
In Pathankot, a motor scooter packed with explosives blew up at a private medical center, police said. The scooter driver was among nine people who died instantly.
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