Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Federal detectives probe Assam violence

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Federal detectives are due to visit violence-affected areas in India's Assam state, where 77 people have died.

The Central Bureau of Investigat­ion (CBI) will be probing whether there was any "conspiracy" behind the violence.

More than 300,000 people have fled their homes after fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers in Kokrajhar and Chirang.

There has been tension between indigenous groups and Muslim Bengali migrants in Assam for many years.

More than 300,000 people have fled their homes after fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers in Kokrajhar and Chirang

Federal Home Minister Sushilkuma­r Shinde said the CBI - India's leading investigat­ion agency - will "take over certain cases of violence where conspiracy seems to be involved for investigat­ion".

Meanwhile senior Assam police official AP Rout told the state-run Doordarsha­n News that the situation in the violence-hit districts was "under control" and no fresh incidents had been reported.

The army is conducting peace marches in the affected areas, he said.

Police say that the clashes began last month when unidentifi­ed men killed four youths in Kokrajhar, an area dominated by the Bodo tribe.

They say that armed Bodos attacked Muslims in retaliatio­n, suspecting they were behind the killings.

Soon afterwards unidentifi­ed groups set houses, schools and vehicles ablaze, police said, firing indiscrimi­nately from automatic weapons in populated areas.

– (BBC)

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 ??  ?? Over 70 people have been killed in the violence. (BBC)
Over 70 people have been killed in the violence. (BBC)
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