Clash at major Sikh shrine in India leaves 6 wounded

An official says half a dozen people were wounded as members of a Sikh group brandishing swords and wooden sticks clashed with guards of the Sikh's holiest shrine in India.

Kiran Jyoti Kaur, a Golden Temple management spokeswoman, says the clash occurred Friday during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the storming of the shrine by the Indian army in June 1984 in the northern city of Amritsar.

Kaur said supporters of the Shiromani Akali Dal, led by Simranjeet Singh Mann, turned violent and they were chased away by temple guards. They were raising slogans for an independent homeland for the Sikhs.

The 1984 Indian army operation to establish control over the shrine was one of the most contentious episodes in India's battle against Sikh separatists in the 1980s.

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