M A I N   N E W S

29 Biharis killed, curfew in Tinsukia

A woman collects belongings from the debris of her burnt house in Guwahati on Wednesday.  — Reuters photo

Guwahati, November 19
Spiralling violence killed 29 Biharis, including a three-year-old child who was hacked to death, and injured 40 while arson reduced 500 of their hutments to rubble as the Army was deployed today across Assam and indefinite curfew clamped in worst-hit Tinsukia district.

Curfew was imposed from 1 p.m. in Tinsukia district and would be in force till the situation improved, official sources said.

Army was called throughout Assam this afternoon to ease tension between the two communities, assist the civil administration and instil confidence among the people.

In the continuing violence against Biharis triggered by attack on Assamese train passengers in Bihar, eight people were killed in Dibrugarh, three in Tinsukia, both in Upper Assam and four in Lower Assam’s Dhubri district, the police said.

Several huts were torched, shops and cash looted from petty businessmen in the area.

Among the victims last night were six of a family, including two men and two little girls, of a small Bihari trader Uma Kant Tewari at Kheronipathar under Tingkhong police station in Dibrugarh district, the sources said. Tewari, however, escaped unhurt. The killers set the house ablaze before escaping.

Another person was killed in the district when miscreants set ablaze a liquor bottling plant. The other victim from the district succumbed to injuries yesterday after being attacked on Sunday.

A Bihari labourer was also attacked and killed on Sunday, the sources said.

Four Bihari truck drivers were gunned down and seven injured by ULFA militants at Baxirhat under Golokgunj police station in Dhubri district last night while they were watching the India-Australia cricket match.

The bodies of two Hindi-speaking people were recovered from neighbouring Tinsukia district, the sources said.

Security was tightened in all sensitive areas with patrolling intensified particularly along highways to ensure smooth running of buses and trucks and protect the lives of drivers and handymen, who are mostly Hindi-speaking.

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Wednesday requested her Assamese counterpart Tarun Gogoi to identify the people responsible for the crime against Biharis and initiate strong action against them and also to apprise her government of the steps being taken by his government.

In a letter to Mr Gogoi, Ms Rabri Devi said relatives of the Biharis living and working in Assam and the north-eastern states were anxious due to continuous reports in the media about misbehaviour with Biharis in those states. — PTI, UNI