2 min readMay 23, 2026 06:29 AM IST First published on: May 23, 2026 at 06:25 AM ISTThe police caught nine suspected terrorists in Ferozepur and Jalandhar districts, as the death toll in the shootout at Amritsar mounted to 11 with two more succumbing to their injuries. In one of the worst killing sprees of its kind in the state, 18 persons had come under a hail of bullets fired from six Sten guns and revolvers wielded by terrorists, who reportedly came to the ill-fated locality on foot and escaped in a jeep.Centre alarmed at killingsThe killings in Amritsar and the resultant panic among the minority community have alarmed the central government. Arun Nehru, Minister of State for Internal Security, had a series of meetings with senior officials of the Home Ministry and intelligence agencies to review the situation and suggest steps to the Punjab government to control it. The Prime Minister has called for a meeting with his advisors including the Home Minister.AdvertisementPM says SWAPO victory certainThe Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, described the latest bombing of three southern African frontline states by the South African Government as “an extension of the dogma of racist arrogance”. Speaking at a banquet hosted by him in honour of the visiting president of the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), Sam Nujoma, the Prime Minister said that “a common thread of evil” ran through apartheid in South Africa, colonialism in Namibia, the occupation of parts of Angola and the “brutal state terrorism of Pretoria”.Sri Lanka continues bombingEight persons, including a one-year-old girl, were killed when the Sri Lankan air force strafed and bombed two villages in Jaffna peninsula as Tamil militants resisted attempts by a large number of troops to link up with their colleagues at Point Pedro on the northern coast.