http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/international/stories/india.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
CHANDIGARH, India (Reuter) - The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Punjab and 12 of his retinue were blown to bits by a bomb Thursday and Sikh separatists claimed responsibility, the United News of India (UNI) reported.
The news agency said the Babbar Khalsa International, a Sikh separatist group active in Punjab during the insurgency of the 1980s, had claimed responsibility for the killings.
The remains of Beant Singh, a Sikh from India's ruling Congress party who became chief minister in 1992, were only identified from a foot in a shoe and his religious bangle, a senior police officer said.
Police said five Indian army commandos in Singh's security detail were among those killed in the explosion on the steps of the regional government offices. His driver and two of his aides also died and some 18 people were injured.
UNI said it had received a handwritten faxed message from two wanted Babbar Khalsa leaders, which read:
``Beant Singh has come on top of our hit list after he betrayed the Sikh community. We had to give the death sentence to him because of this.''
Punjab witnessed a bloody insurgency by Sikh separatists in the 1980s which climaxed in the army assault on the Golden temple at Amritsar and the subsequent assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Police said the bomb appeared to have been placed in Singh's armor-plated official white car as it was parked outside the administrative headquarters of Punjab and Haryana. The two states share the capital Chandigarh.
The blast took place shortly after five p.m.
Police said the two other cars in the official convoy were also seriously damaged in the blast and caught fire.
Punjab police director K.P.S. Gill told a news conference that pieces of flesh and limbs had been found on the first floor of the government secretariat building. The reception area of the 10-story structure took the brunt of the blast.
Witnesses said the bodies lay where they fell for close to three hours after the explosion until forensic staff had completed their work.
PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying the car bomb had been made of high explosive RDX and blew the roof off Singh's car.
Police sealed off the city after the explosion and set up roadblocks to try to prevent the escape of the attackers.
The killing of Beant Singh was the first major political assassination in India since former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Indira's son, was blown apart by a Tamil woman suicide bomber near Madras in May, 1991.