Assam explodes again!!!

Assam explodes again!!!

After a brief lull, fresh cases of violence rocked Assam on Saturday. Unidentified miscreants killed five persons in the Chirang district of troubled Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) in the State forcing the administration to impose indefinite curfew. The latest killings took the overall toll to 85 so far since the ethnic clashes erupted last month.

"The fresh incident took place at a place called Choudhuripara near Mangolian Bazar. The police on Saturday recovered five bodies hidden in a paddy field in the area after being informed by the locals. We suspect that the miscreants must have killed them during the day. However, police recovered the bodies in the evening as the locals informed the police very late," Inspector General of Police (BTAD) SN Singh told The Pioneer. "The bodies are yet to be identified," Singh informed.

"Night curfew, which was in force in the district, has been extended indefinitely after the incident," Singh said, adding additional security personnel have been rushed to the area to deal with the situation.

The attacks came on a day when Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka, who is on a three-day confidence-building tour of the north east, urged professionals and students from the region, who had fled the southern state, to return and assured protection and job guarantee.

There were around 3.5 lakh North-east people in Karnataka, of whom 2.5 lakh resided in Bangalore. According to Karnataka Government figures, a total of 34,627 persons left for their home States during the recent exodus.

The fresh violence also took place at a time when the district administration has initiated the rehabilitation of the displaced people. While over two lakh people have returned to their respective villages, close to another two lakh persons are still living in various relief camps in three districts.

The three districts of Western Assam-Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri — had witnessed the worst communal riots after clashes broke out between the dominant Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslim settlers on July 19, killing 80 persons from both the communities. The violence has also displaced over four lakh people. Kokrajhar and Chirang form the four district of Assam's BTAD along with Baksa and Udalguri.

Although no fresh incidents of violence had taken place for a while in the three districts, night curfew was in force in Chirang and Dhubri districts since the violence first broke out in July.

On Thursday, the Kokrajhar district administration also imposed an indefinite curfew in the district after police arrested the legislator of the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF), Pradeep Brahma,

for his alleged involvement in the violence.