3 Bombs Kill 19, Injure 62 in Northern India; Sikhs Blamed

Three bombs exploded within minutes of each other Tuesday in the neighboring northern states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, killing 19 people and injuring 62, police and news reports said.

Deputy Punjab Police Chief Sarabjit Singh said investigators believe all three bombs were set by Sikh extremists, who have been fighting since 1983 to establish an independent homeland in Punjab.

The first bomb exploded at about 1:30 p.m. near a medical clinic in Pathankot, a Hindu-dominated town in Punjab about 60 miles northeast of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, Singh said.

At least six patients were killed and 16 others wounded in the blast, he said. As crowds fled the explosion, a second bomb hidden beneath a car went off in a nearby area, injuring six people, Singh said.

The third and worst of the bombings came about 15 minutes after the first, tearing through a bus as it traveled near the Jammu and Kashmir town of Kathua, 70 miles northeast of Amritsar, Singh said.

The explosion ripped open the roof of the bus and killed at least 11 passengers and wounded 42, he said. Two of the wounded later died of severe burns, the Press Trust of India reported.

Sikh extremists have killed more than 2,000 people this year in their campaign for an independent nation, which they claim is needed by India’s 16 million Sikhs to escape discrimination by the Hindu-dominated central government.