Assam clashes: Shoot-at-sight orders

Guwahati, Oct 4 : The Assam Government has issued shoot-at-sight orders today in curfew-bound Udalguri District where at least seven persons were killed and more than 50 injured in clashes between two communities on Friday.

Inspector General of Assam Police (Law and Order) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said, We have asked police, paramilitary and Army soldiers to shoot anybody found indulging in violent activities."

On Friday, violence broke out between two communities in Udalguri District, about 100 kilometres north of Guwahati.

A police official, while requesting anonymity, said, "The situation is tense with the violence spreading to new areas in the district even as five more bodies were recovered, all of them shot at with poison-tipped arrows and hit with crude sharp implements."

Over 50 people were wounded, some with bullets and more than 200 houses were set ablaze in about six villages, the official said.

According to reports, thousands of villagers have fled their homes and are now sheltering in makeshift relief camps set up by the police.

The provocation for the clashes was allegedly an attack on a group of Village Defence Party (VDP) volunteers belonging to the tribal Bodo community by members of a religious minority group on Friday.

ANI