12 Hindus Slain by Sikh Gunmen in India Park
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CHANDIGARH, India — Sikh separatists wielding AK-47 assault rifles unleashed a hail of gunfire Friday at a group of Hindus performing ritual morning exercises in a park, killing 12 people and wounding six, police said.
Sikh militants, who launched an offensive Jan. 1 as part of a campaign for independence for northern Punjab state, also assassinated Khushi Ram Sharma, a Hindu industrialist and a state leader of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Police said the first incident occurred in Rambagh Park in the town of Barnala as a group of 12 people took part in an activity known as Shakha , an event organized by a Hindu fundamentalist group in which participants perform exercises and sing patriotic songs.
Fire at Close Range
The militants arrived at the site 80 miles west of the state capital of Chandigarh aboard a jeep and a motorcycle. The Sikhs stormed into the park and opened fire at close range on the Hindus, killing nine people instantly, police said. Authorities said three others were seriously wounded and died in the hospital.
In the second incident, police said two Sikhs armed with submachine guns assassinated Sharma, state vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as he was stepping out of his car at his factory in Ludhiana, 70 miles northwest of Chandigarh.
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