13 of family massacred

MULTAN, April 15 (AFP) — Two assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles today mowed down 13 members of one family at Serai Siddu in Punjab province in a land dispute, the police said. The massacre took place before dawn at Serai Siddu in the district of Khanewal, about 70 km west of here. The two men raided the home of their uncle and shot him dead along with 12 other members of the family.

Bus burnt

GANDHINAGAR, April 15 (PTI) — About 12 persons, including two policemen, were injured when a Congress rally, demanding reinstatement of former navy chief Vishnu Bhagwat, turned violent here this afternoon. The agitators, on their way to submit a memorandum to Governor S.S. Bhandari, set afire a State Road Transport Corporation bus and damaged three buses by throwing stones. A bus driver was also injured in the incident.

Naxals kill TDP man

HYDERABAD, April 15 (PTI) — Close on the heels of the killing of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker and senior Congress leader D. Sripada Rao in Karimnagar, Naxalites have shot dead a ruling Telugu Desam activist in Anantapur district. Two Naxals of the CPI (ML) Sudershan group came on a motor cycle and accosted TDP worker Chinna Appaiah yesterday.

5 die in gang war

PATNA, April 15 (PTI) — At least five persons were killed in a gang war in Bihar’s Patna district today, the police said. Armed members of a gang exploded bombs and fired indiscriminately at Fatua village, killing one Sanjay Prasad Yadav on the spot.

Friday prayers

BASTI, April 15 (PTI) — Sant Kabir Nagar District Magistrate R.K. Singh today issued interim orders directing the Muslim community not to offer Friday prayers at Kotwali campus mosque in Khalilabad town until a final decision was taken in this regard. The order followed tension in the area recently in the wake of objections by BJP workers.

Heat wave kills 14

BHUBANESWAR, April 15 (PTI) — The Orissa Government has directed all district collectors to take adequate precautionary measures against the current heat wave sweeping several parts of the state. The state headquarters here said 14 sunstroke deaths had been reported so far from eight districts. Three deaths each were reported from Dhenkanal and Jajpur districts, two each from Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur and one each in Samballpur, Bhadrak, Angul and Kendrapara districts.

Wheat storage

NEW DELHI, April 15 (PTI) — The government today abolished stock limits on storage of wheat and wheat products by traders and roller flour mills following comfortable stock position in the central pool and prospects of a bumper wheat crop. The state governments have been advised to amend their control orders suitably to remove existing restrictions on stock limits which were imposed in 1996-97.