1.
GV Amritsar airport
0.05

2.
LV & SV Three aircraft take off (2 shots)
0.14

3.
LV Soldier towards camouflaged post
0.17

4.
SV Soldier looks through binoculars
0.19

5.
G to A. Aircraft overhead (one)
0.22

6.
LV Another aircraft takes off
0.26

7.
LV & SV Anti-aircraft gun (3 shots)
0.40

8.
GV Shuttered shops
0.43

9.
SV PAN Evacuees with belongings
0.50

10.
SV Evacuees milling around crowded buses
1.01

11.
SV PAN Evacuees on bullock cart
1.09



Initials SGM/0147 SGM/0124



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Replying to a solids of overnight air raids on the city of Amritsar, Indian fighter-bombers took off throughout Saturday and Sunday (4 and 5 December) to strike at targets ever the nearby West Pakistan border.

The Soviet-built jets were among the first Indian planes to go into action after Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi's Parliamentary statement on Saturday that the Pakistan government had declared war on her country.

The runway at Amritsar airport, was damaged by Pakistani delayed-action bombs dropped by planes flying too low for detection. But within hours the damage had been patched up sufficiently for the airport to continue as a base for the Indian counter-attack.

Amritsar, spiritual home of the Sikh religion, and know as the "golden city", spent two nights under a strict blackout while evacuees streamed in from other border villages.

SYNOPSIS: Amritsar airport, North-West India, scene of some of the opening salves in the India-Pakistan war. Throughout Saturday and Sunday Indian fighter-bombers were taking off to strike across the border only 10 miles away.

Earlier on Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi told the Delhi parliament that the Pakistan government had declared war on her country.

Overnight, low-flying Pakistani Sabre members swooped in on a string of six raids on the airport, dropping delayed action bombs. Damage to the runway - including 20-feet square holes - was repaired within hours.

In the heart of Amritsar - spiritual home of the Sikh religion and known as the "golden city" - evacuees streamed in from border villages.

Other villagers captured a Pakistani pilot when he parachuted from his fighter plane. As India's Soviet-built Sukhoi jets set off on counter-attacks, villagers clambered on to transport heading towards the interior. Amritsar remained under strict orders for all-night blackout.