Violent clashes leave almost 70 dead

INDIAN paramilitary forces rushed to the restive northeastern state of Assam yesterday after separatist rebels gunned down nearly 70 people in violence linked to long-running land and tribal disputes.

The co-ordinated attacks late Tuesday were carried out by ethnic Bodos, who have long agitated for an independent state, against settlers known as ‘‘adivasi,’’ many of whom work on Assam’s renowned tea plantations.

In retaliatory strikes yesterday, several Bodo villages and hundreds of households were set ablaze, apparently by settlers, Bodo activists said.

Indian news media reported that the dead in one district, Kokrajhar, included 18 children and 21 women.