Week of ethnic violence hits India
( 2003-11-23 16:11) (cnn.com)
Angry locals killed five more migrants in India's northeastern state of
Assam, including three thrown into a river with their hands and feet tied,
taking the death toll to 51 during a week of ethnic violence.
A man waits for a
train in Guwahati, capital of strife-torn Assam province. [AP
Photo] | Police said on Sunday at least two other migrants were hacked to death
overnight. Since last Monday, local Assamese radicals have looted and attacked
migrants from the neighboring state of Bihar in a conflict sparked by a
competition for jobs.
Three Biharis drowned on Saturday in the Brahmaputra in the district of
Tinsukia, east of the state's main city of Guwahati, after unidentified men
threw them into the fast-flowing river with their hands and feet bound, Khagen
Sharma, an inspector general of police, told Reuters.
He said two settlers were hacked to death by unidentified attackers in a
remote village in Doomdooma, in Tinsukia, the district worst hit.
Assam is one of India's richest states in terms of resources, especially tea
and oil, but residents complain that jobs too often go to people from out of
state.
The violence is believed to have been triggered by an attack on Assamese
train travellers in Bihar this month following reports of assaults on Bihari
students who came to Assam to do tests for railway jobs.
Assamese students feared Biharis would snatch the prized government jobs.
In one of the worst incidents, radicals riding
motorcycles on Saturday shot and killed eight Biharis working in a brick kiln
near Tinsukia town.
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