BALURGHAT, India, Nov. 28 —The people of this Indian border town have been fleeing their homes to safer places in the interior as Pakistani troops have pounded them for four days with 25‐pound shells fired from three miles away.

At least 20 people are said to have been killed and 70 injured. Eight shells fell on crowded areas of the town during an hour this morning while a group of foreign correspondents was on a brief visit here.

The newsmen were flown 185 miles in an air force plane from Calcutta for a possible visit to a front where serious fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops was reported to have broken out two days ago.

The Indian Government has acknowledged having crossed the border “in self‐defense” to engage the Pakistanis, and has said that 80 Pakistanis were killed in the battle and one tank was captured.

The newsmen were barred today by the local authorities from going to the front near Hilli, 18 miles northeast of here. Nor were they allowed to go to border positions outside the town from where the Pakistani shells were said to be coming.

There were indications here that Indian troops might have gone into East Pakistan to stop the shelling of Balurghat. The town protrudes into East Pakistani territory and Pakistani bunkers are on three sides of it. There were signs of military activity in the town itself. At the airfield, in heavily fortified bunkers, Indian soldiers were seen armed with light and heavy machine guns. The town is thick with rumors of fighting not far away, but local officials said they were not aware of any.

K. I. Gupta, the district magistrate who had been asked by military authorities to use his discretion in permitting the newsmen to go to the front, declined to allow them to do so, saying that the roads were being heavily shelled by the Pakistanis and that he was not prepared to take the “risk of exposing foreigners to the danger.”

Artillery Fire Begins

Even as the newsmen were pleading with him, artillery fire started in the distance.

“See, that may be coming this way,” said Mr. Gupta. He led the visitors to the local hospital where two wards were overflowing with casualties. The cots were occupied by men and women with serious shrapnel wounds. The less seriously wounded were lying on the floor.

Bulbuli Shaha, a 26‐year‐old refugee woman from East Pakistan, was groaning with pain and grief. A thigh and hip were heavily bandaged. Her home, a shack in town, was hit by a shell Friday, killing her husband and a child, and causing her to lose the baby she was carrying.

Mrs. Shaha, speaking in Bengali, answered questions in a low voice. She said her parents and a sister were killed during a raid by Pakistani soldiers on her home across the border in May. She then fled here with her husband and son.

“I've stopped crying now,” she said with a wry smile. “God is merciful. He has left me living, alone.”

Suddenly ambulances entered the hospital compound, their sirens blaring. Steel‐helmeted orderlies transferred an old man, a middle‐aged woman, a young man and a 5‐year‐old boy to stretchers, which were rushed to emergency wards. All had serious injuries.

The ambulances, with bold letters showing they were donated by the United Nations Children's Fund, rushed back to fetch more casualties.

The wounded who had been brought in came from a crowded marketplace near the hospital that had been hit by a shell. Four persons had been killed instantly.

30,000 Fled From Hilli

The district magistrate said that seven other shells had fallen in town and that there would be many more dead and injured. He said outgoing buses were loaded with people fleeing with their belongings. Those who remained were cooped up in relatively safer buildings— schools and Government offices.

Mr. Gupta said that if the shelling lasted another week Balurghat would be deserted like Hilli, whose 30,000 residents had already been shifted to safer places. Hilli has been shelled since Oct. 3, he said.

In New Delhi, the Defense Ministry said that Indian troops were “compelled to take fresh defensive action” in the Balurghat‐Hilli area yesterday and that the fighting was still going on.

Outside Balurghat, on roads leading to the interior, there was a steady exodus. Families were seen carrying their baggage in buses, carts and even on bicycles. Many walked with heavy head loads.

Mr. Gupta said that he al ready had nearly a million refugees from East Pakistan to be taken care of.

“Now, our own people are refugees,” he said. “Wherever they go, we have to provide for their food and shelter.”