New Delhi (AP) — A firing incident inside a military station in northern India killed at least four soldiers early Wednesday, an army statement said.
The statement didn’t give details, saying only that quick reaction teams were activated, and the area cordoned off and sealed.
Indian media reports quoted state police officers as saying that the incident in the army camp in Bhatinda in Punjab state bordering Pakistan did not appear to be a terror attack.
The shooting took place as the state was on a high security alert a day ahead of Baisakhi, a major Sikh and Hindu festival marking the start of the harvesting season.
Punjab had suffered a bloody insurgency in 1980s that led to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in New Delhi in 1984. It triggered deadly violence against Sikhs in northern India by her Hindu supporters.
India accuses neighboring Pakistan of supporting the insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir and Punjab, a charge Islamabad denies.
