CHANDIGARH, India -- Sikh extremists Sunday assassinated a member of the Punjab state assembly from the ruling Sikh Akali Dal party, apparently in retaliation for his defiance of a holy edict, police said.
Two Sikhs on a motor scooter opened fire with submachine guns at Assemblyman Amarjit Singh as he was driving in his native village of Ghalewal, about 30 miles northwest of the state capital of Chandigarh, police said.
Singh was dead on arrival in a hospital, police said. A passengerr in his car was seriously wounded, the Press Trust of India reported.
Security forces sealed off the area, but the killers escaped, police said.
The Sikh Akali Dal party came into conflict with the high priests of Sikhdom last month when its assembly members rejected orders to resign and join militant breakaway factions of the party.
Singh, 51, was a strong supporter of moderate Sikh Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala, who was excommunicated by the high priests for his refusal to submit to their authority.
Sikh radicals fighting to create the independent nation of 'Khalistan' in northern Punjab state threatened to punish those who disobeyed the holy edict. Violence by Sikh extremists has left more than 700 people dead in the last 14 months.
