India Election Sees Fatal Shootings In Assam

By Neville Lazarus, India Producer

Election violence has claimed the lives of at least 30 people within 24 hours in India's remote northeastern state of Assam.

The killing of Bengali-speaking Muslims by tribal separatists has caused hundreds to flee the area.

A curfew has been imposed and the Indian Army has been called in to keep the peace in the face of threatened retaliation for the killings.

This four-year-old was among those injured in the indiscriminate violence

The deadly attacks in the Baksa district are reported to have been carried out because the large Muslim population did not vote for the candidate loyal to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland - a separatist group fighting for autonomy in the northern part of the state.

In one incident, militants raided a village and fired indiscriminately at a house killing three women instantly and wounding two others.

Another attack saw 12 people shot dead near Manas National Park, where 30 thatched homes were also burnt down.

Appealing for calm, chief minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi said: "We request people not to flee their homes.

"We will do everything possible to frustrate the designs of the insurgents and apprehend them at the earliest."

Ethnic violence is not new to the area, with tensions simmering for decades between the indigenous Bodo people and the migrant Bengali-speaking Muslims from Bangladesh.

It is claimed migrant numbers have been on the rise, leading to increased competition for jobs and land.

Widespread violence in 2012 left more than 100 people dead.

And during the 1983 state elections more than 3000 people were killed in days of ethnic cleansing and violence.

Around 815 million people have registered to vote in India's general election - a number exceeding the population of Europe and a world record.

The results of the mammoth exercise, which concludes on May 12, are due on May 16.

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