Shillong, January 10
Shoot-at-sight orders were issued in Assam while curfew remained clamped on the inter-state border with Meghalaya as the toll in the ethnic strife at the Goalpara-East Garo Hills area reached 10.

Goalpara Deputy Comm-issioner PK Goswami said over the phone that two bodies were found on the Assam side of the boarder on Sunday evening, taking the toll in the ethnic clash between the Rabhas and the Garos to 10.

East Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi said Garo-dominated Chigism, Kaldang and Kasikgara villages in Assam were attacked yesterday after which 200 Garo women and children fled to East Garo Hills and sought refuge at Hudakona primary school during the night. They were shifted to relief camps by Army troops today morning.

A vehicle carrying relief material was also torched resulting in injuries to 11 persons, two of them critically, at Paikan in Goalpara.

Following attacks on the Garo villages, a mob frenzy had begun to build up and Gendabari Rabha village on the Meghalaya side was set ablaze during the day. Curfew remained clamped on Resbulpara subdivision of East Garo Hills and in the four police station areas of Dudhmoi, Krishnai, Dhupdhara and Rangajuli of Assam. So far, 110 miscreants have been arrested.