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Death toll rises to 16 in Assam communal violence

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Guwahati, India, Oct 5, IRNA

India-Assam-Violence

Police recovered nine more bodies overnight in the violence torn India's northeastern state of Assam, taking the toll in three days of clashes between two ethnic communities in the area to 16, officials Sunday said.

"The casualties as of now is 16 killed and about 50 wounded, some of them critically, besides about 20 villages affected leaving an estimated 200 houses torched in group clashes," a senior police official said requesting not to be named.

The incidents were taking place despite an indefinite curfew in the violence-hit areas of Udalguri and Darrang districts of northern Assamand where army soldiers were staging flag marches, besides presence of police and paramilitary troopers.

"We have asked security forces to take all possible steps to stop the violence and help restore calm in the area," Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said.

"Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued against the perpetrators of violence."

Violence broke out Friday between two communities in Rowta in Udalguri district, about 100 km north of Assam's main city of Guwahati. In the last two days, the violence had spread to the adjoining district of Darrang.

"The situation is tense with miscreants setting ablaze about 50 houses overnight," the chief minister said.

Large mob of people armed with bows and arrows, machetes, spears, besides country made guns, were roaming the violence hit areas to target villages of rival communities.

Thousands of villagers have fled their homes and now taking shelter in makeshift relief camps set up the police.

"There are an estimated 10,000 people of various ethnic communities sheltered in camps. These people had fled fearing attacks or belonged to villages where miscreants had torched their homes," Assam Agriculture Minister Pramilla Rani Brahma said after visiting the violence torn districts.

The immediate provocation for the clashes was the attack on a group of Village Defence Party (VDP) volunteers early Friday by armed miscreants.

"The VDP members belonged to the tribal Bodo community and was attacked by members of a religious minority group and that sparked off the clashes," the official said.

In August, the area witnessed similar clashes between two communities in which about 10 people were killed and several injured.