Sikh Extremists Kill Head Priest

CHANDIGARH, India — Sikh extremists today shot and killed the head priest of the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine in the city of Amritsar, police said.

The militants also killed a secretary of the temple committee, according to police.

The victims were identified as head priest Sohan Singh and Bhan Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which manages Sikh temples.

The head of the committee, Mal Singh Ghuman, suffered at least four bullet wounds and was reported in critical condition in a hospital, police said. Singh is a title common to Sikhs, not a family name.

According to police, Sikh extremists opened fire on the three men at noon on a street in Ludhiana, about 55 miles west of the state capital of Chandigarh.

The assailants sprayed them with bullets from an AK-47 Chinese rifle as the three emerged from a board meeting of an engineering college, Indian news agencies said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Appointed in May

The temple committee appointed Sohan Singh head priest in May, after police and paramilitary troops forced more than 150 Sikh extremists out of the Golden Temple.