Assam shocker: Security forces fire at civilians; 18 injured

Golaghat (Assam), August 19: In a shocking incident, the cops and security forces were directly firing at unarmed protesters in the violence-hit Golaghat district of Assam.

At least 18 protesters were injured after police fired rubber pellets and resorted to lathicharge at Rangajan in violence-hit Golaghat district of Assam along Nagaland this evening, a senior police officer said.

District Superintendent of Police Siladitya Chetia told PTI that a group of protesters turn

As the demonstrators attacked the security men, police resorted to lathicharge and then fired rubber pellets to disperse them and bring the situation under control, Chetia said.

In the lathicharge ten persons were injured and eight others in the firing, he said.

The wounded were immediately taken to hospital where some were released after first aid and others were undergoing treatment, the SP added.

The protesters were agitating against alleged failure of the state government to protect the people at Uriamghat in Assam against the attack by miscreants from Nagaland killing nine persons and rendering over 10,000 homeless on Tuesday last.

Local residents, however, alleged the security personnel dragged them out of their homes after they called off their road blockade and fired upon them from regular guns after chasing them for some distance.

Some of the opposition political parties and social activist organisations have condemned the "attack on innocent people" by the security forces.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought report from the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Shockingly, Assam Chief Minister's son and Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, while talking to a news channel claimed that the “security forces were firing rubber bullets.”

MHA has sought report from the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

One of the policeman was even caught hitting a person. Meanwhile, the Centre on Tuesday rushed around 1,000 additional paramilitary personnel for deployment along the Assam-Nagaland

Nearly 10,000 people fled their homes in seven villages of Golaghat district in Assam.

Gogoi today said people living along Assam-Nagaland border and the inmates of the relief camps do not have confidence in the central security forces deployed along the disputed belt.

His convoy was attacked by protesters on Monday in Uriamghat area of Golaghat when he was visiting violence-hit Uriamghat.

As Gogoi approached a relief camp at Uriamghat, angry protesters shouted slogans against him and some of them pelted stones at security vehicles in the tail end of the convoy, slightly damaging two of them.

OneIndia News