Sixteen killed in clashes in northeast India: police
Monday, 6 October 2008
GUWAHATI, (India), Oct 5 (AFP): At least 16 people died and dozens were injured in three days of clashes in India's insurgency-hit northeast, police said Sunday.
Violence erupted after village officials belonging to the tribal Bodo group were attacked by Muslims, police said.
Other groups in remote Assam state joined the clashes, with mobs armed with machetes, spears and homemade guns targeting rival communities.
Troops were instructed to shoot on sight in two districts of the state where a curfew has been imposed, police said.
"The toll as of now is 16 killed and about 50 wounded, some critically. About 200 houses have been torched," a senior police official said, requesting not to be named.
About 10,000 people have fled their homes and are living in state-run relief centers
Meanwhile: A Maoist leader has claimed responsibility for the death of a Hindu holy man whose murder sparked savage anti-Christian riots in India, news reports said Sunday.
Hardline Hindus had blamed Christians for the killing of Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, which led to widespread rioting and the death of at least 33 people in Hindu-Christian clashes in eastern Orissa state.
The Hindu leader had been associated with a radical group opposed to Hindus converting to Christianity.
But the Maoists said they killed Saraswati because he was forcing tribal people to convert to Hinduism.
"We ordered the death penalty for him," Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda told reporters Saturday.
Panda said his group had left letters at the killing in August claiming responsibility but that local authorities hid the evidence.
"They suppressed the evidence so that they could get an excuse to attack Christians," Panda told the NDTV news network.
Hindu groups have attacked churches, prayer halls and homes of Christians in the state, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter in state-run refugee homes.
On Friday, the Orissa government said police had arrested four people for the alleged rape of a nun during the riots.
Hardline Hindu groups accuse Christian missionaries of bribing poor tribespeople and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care.
The attacks have been condemned by the Vatican and described as "a national shame" by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Christians account for 2.3 percent of India's billion-plus Hindu majority population
Violence erupted after village officials belonging to the tribal Bodo group were attacked by Muslims, police said.
Other groups in remote Assam state joined the clashes, with mobs armed with machetes, spears and homemade guns targeting rival communities.
Troops were instructed to shoot on sight in two districts of the state where a curfew has been imposed, police said.
"The toll as of now is 16 killed and about 50 wounded, some critically. About 200 houses have been torched," a senior police official said, requesting not to be named.
About 10,000 people have fled their homes and are living in state-run relief centers
Meanwhile: A Maoist leader has claimed responsibility for the death of a Hindu holy man whose murder sparked savage anti-Christian riots in India, news reports said Sunday.
Hardline Hindus had blamed Christians for the killing of Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, which led to widespread rioting and the death of at least 33 people in Hindu-Christian clashes in eastern Orissa state.
The Hindu leader had been associated with a radical group opposed to Hindus converting to Christianity.
But the Maoists said they killed Saraswati because he was forcing tribal people to convert to Hinduism.
"We ordered the death penalty for him," Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda told reporters Saturday.
Panda said his group had left letters at the killing in August claiming responsibility but that local authorities hid the evidence.
"They suppressed the evidence so that they could get an excuse to attack Christians," Panda told the NDTV news network.
Hindu groups have attacked churches, prayer halls and homes of Christians in the state, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter in state-run refugee homes.
On Friday, the Orissa government said police had arrested four people for the alleged rape of a nun during the riots.
Hardline Hindu groups accuse Christian missionaries of bribing poor tribespeople and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care.
The attacks have been condemned by the Vatican and described as "a national shame" by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Christians account for 2.3 percent of India's billion-plus Hindu majority population