LONDON — British police made eight more arrests Friday over the stabbing of a retired Indian army general who said that his role in a deadly raid on Sikhism's holiest shrine may have made him a target for militants. The new arrests, announced in a statement released by Scotland Yard, bring to 15 the number of people detained since Kuldip Singh Brar had his neck slashed by assailants on London's busy Oxford Street shopping area on Sunday. Brar has told Indian media that he believes the stabbing was carried out by Sikh extremists in revenge for his role in the attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984, a bloody assault in which more than 1,000 people were killed. The statement said that while Scotland Yard was aware of speculation over the attackers' motives, “it would not be helpful to our investigation to comment further at this stage.” Scotland Yard said that all eight suspects, whose ages range from 20 to 42, were arrested at various addresses in west London in the early hours of Friday. Six of those arrested Friday have been detained on suspicion of conspiracy to murder; two were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. The police service says officers investigating the stabbing had detained a further three people on suspicion of immigration offenses unrelated to the attempted murder investigation. Friday's arrests follow the detention of four people on Thursday. — AP
