☰

Global

Sword-wielding Sikhs clash at India's Golden Temple


    NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Sikhs wielding swords clashed inside the compound of the their holiest shrine on Friday, the 30th anniversary of a controversial raid by Indian security forces that flushed out separatist militants holed up in the temple.

    Television showed dramatic footage of Sikhs rushing out of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, brandishing their swords against each other in a violent confrontation in which several people were reported injured.

    It was not immediately clear what triggered the clashes.

    Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 over the army's storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar to crush a Sikh militant movement that sought a separate homeland.

    Nearly 3,000 people were killed in retaliatory riots against the Sikhs.

    (Reporting by Sruthi Gottipati; Editing by Douglas Busvine)