Villagers flee as tension escalates after border clashes

Mariani, Assam-Nagaland border, Aug 9 (UNI) Assamese Villagers have started fleeing their homes and taken refuge in schools and civil hospitals after tension escalated in the areas on Assam-Nagaland border following renewed clashes between groups from the two neighbouring states.

Firing was reported from the Nagaland side in the Udaipur area along the border, while suspected armed Naga militants threatened Assamese villagers early this morning.

Senior Assam Police officials, led by IGP(border), today toured the areas and were camping here to review the situation.

Mukokchung district of Nagaland, sharing its border with Jorhat district of Assam, was also tense after an irate mob, provoked by the AASU's border march programme, clashed with police at separate places.

Official sources in Nagaland said police resorted to blank fire near the Khensa Gate on the entrance of Mukokchung town after irate people boarded buses and trucks and broke through the Gate despite police resistance.

About 200 people were taken into preventive custody by Nagaland police, as security personnel, including Assam Rifles, erected a number of barricades on the Mariani-Mukokchung Road to prevent confrontation between the two sides.

The clashes erupted yesterday after suspected Naga miscreants shot at an Assamese person and razed to ground couple of houses, hours after the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) attempted to take out a protest march to Nagaland in Jorhat district.

Yesterday, more than 200 activists of the AASU and other organisations were taken into preventive custody when they started marching towards the New Chuntia border observation post from here in a bid to claim Assam's 'territory'.

One Assamese trader was also shot at Wokha district, adjacent to the Golaghat border.

Meanwhile, the indefinite curfew clamped by Naga village heads in the Chirang Valley region of Alongtaki constituency in Mukokchung district, near to Assam, continued even as people in Assam also carried out a blockade, preventing movement on the main road connecting both states.

The indefinite 'curfew' of the Naga heads extends from the Tsutapala check post, around 8 km from here, to Longtho Valley, which comprise over 22 Naga villages. The Naga Police personnel refused to allow anyone beyond the place. Indian Reserve Battalion personnel were also deployed at the post.

UNI