WORLD : 19 India Students Slain in Sleep
<i> From Times Wire Services</i>
CHANDIGARH, India —
Masked gunmen raided an engineering college dormitory in Punjab state before dawn today and fatally shot 19 students as they slept, police said. Eight others were wounded.
Police said the gunmen were believed to be Sikh extremists fighting for an independent homeland in Punjab, a rich farming state on the northern border with Pakistan.
The attack occurred just hours before Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was scheduled to arrive in the city for a brief campaign trip.
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