Nandigram flareup claims 14;Opp parties' bandh on Mar 16

Nandigram, Mar 14 (UNI) At least 13 people were killed and 50 injured when police fired upon villagers resisting the law keepers from entering the embattled area in a major flare-up in Nandigram of East Midnapore district today.

While 13 people, including a woman, were killed in police firing, a villager died after a bomb he was about to hurl, burst in his hands, official sources said. Of the injured 14 were policemen.

Terming it a ''great massacre'', the Trinamool Congress-led Krishi Jami Raksha Committee called a 12-hour state-wide bandh on March 16 to demand the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

The Congress, BJP and SUCI gave separate bandh calls on the same day.

District Magistrate Anup Agarwal told UNI that police had to fire when villagers attacked them with bombs and stones while additional forces were entering the area. He said four of those killed had so far been identified.

Demanding President's rule in the state, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said at least 20 villagers had been shot dead and more than 200 injured. She alleged that most of the victims were women and children protesting against the setting up of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by the Salim group of Indonesia.

Ms.Banerjee, who alleged that a state sponsored terrorism was on in the state, visited the injured admitted to hospital.

The Centre has sought a report and is in constant touch with the West Bengal government in the wake of the police firing , Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Rajya Sabha. The situation is under control , he said in a statement.

BJP members dissatisfied with Mr Patil's statement shouted slogans and forced an adjournment of the House till tomorrow.

Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had directed the Home Minister to make a statement on the Nandigram firing.

The BJP also staged a walkout on the issue in the Lok Sabha.

Even as official sources in Midnapore announced the death of 14 people in police firing at Nandigram, the Director General of Police claimed that only six people had so far been killed in violence there, creating more confusion about the actual situation.

Briefing newsmen in Kolkata this evening, DGP Anup Bhusan Vora asserted that the police firing in Nandigram in East Midnapore district was 'entirely in self defence' as the police had no option but to resort to it after all other attempts to disperse a violent mob by using lathis and bursting tear gas shells failed.

While the opposition members walked out from the West Bengal Assembly and boycotted proceedings for the day in protest against the incident, Trinamool Congress supporters put up road blocks and went on a rampage damaging vehicles in different parts of the area.

A number of intellectuals... picking up para eight, line one of CA30, AGITATION-SECOND LEAD BENGAL-NANDIGRAM-POLICE TWO NANDIGRAM UNI KDG PL RP RAI2011