NEW DELHI, India -- Sikh gunmen murdered six people and wounded 13 in Punjab Thursday in their bloodiest attack since a moderate Sikh party swept to power in state elections last September, the Press Trust of India reported.
Among those injured was Kabul Singh, acting president of the the governing body of India's Sikh shrines, which is dominated by Sikh moderates.
One of his bodyguards also was injured.
The domestic news agency said the massacre occurred in the town of Kapurthala in western Punjab, 200 miles northwest of New Delhi. Police launched an immediate manhunt in the area but no arrests were reported.
The report said six people in a jeep opened fire on a police official riding in another jeep, which was escorting Kabul Singh. The gunmen then turned their fire on the Sikh leader's car.
It was not clear from the report whether the other victims were bystanders or were part of Singh's entourage.
There was one woman among the dead, the Press Trust said. It said six of the 13 injured were wounded seriously.
Kabul Singh was appointed acting president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee after the resignation last month of Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who had headed the powerful religious body for nearly 13 years.
Tohra decided to step down after he lost the support of both the moderates and the militants in the Sikh state, where extremists have for four years been waging a violent campaign for a separate nation.
Thursday's attack was the bloodiest by Sikh terrorists since the moderate Sikh political party, the Akali Dal, swept to power in the state assembly last year. The elections ended two years of central government rule.
