Communal clash, one killed

Guwahati, Aug 14 (UNI) The ongoing agitation against infiltration in Assam today took a communal turn with clash reported in Rowta in central Assam, killing one and injuring seven others critically.

Clash broke out between two communities and the Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta informed that police had recovered one dead body from the area. ''The situation is tense but under control,'' he said.

The Udalguri district superintendent of police Bijay Kuli said that at least seven persons of different communities were critically wounded at Rowta. The district administration has sought additional paramilitary forces to carry out flag march in the trouble-torn area to pacify the prevailing communal tension between the two communities.

According to Mr Mahanta a local students body---Muslim Students Organisation had called for bandh on Thursday to oppose the harassment of minorities in the name of identification of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

The local organizations opposed the bandh which resulted in group clash at a daily bazaar where some students were trying to enforce bandh.

Police said that seven of those critically wounded have been shifted to Tezpur Civil Hospital. Meanwhile radical Bodo militant organization National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) had been making claim that they had killed nine members of other community as retaliation. But there is no official confirmation in this regard.

They injured are identified Boli Daimary Tarun Ch Deka and Nirmal Deka. The other three injured are Roti Ram Daimary, Binarya Bora and Suhmusa Mushary. All of them were shifted to Tezpur civil hospital as tension has been running high rumour mill spreading like wild fire.

Meanwhile a report from Tezpur said that activist of the All Assam Students Union(AASU) stopped a passenger bus traveling from Dibrugarh to Kalaigaon and detained 122 number of suspected Bangladeshi. The vehicles were damaged while the detained suspected Bangladeshis were handed over to the Assam Police.

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