From Our Correspondent
Guwahati :Indefinite curfew was clamped in Diphu town of Karbi Anglong hill district in Assam on Wednesday after one person was killed and 21 others injured in police firing after mobs demanding a separate State for Karbi tribe resorted to violence and arson.
Indefinite curfew was imposed from 3pm onward while the civil administration called out the army to control the situation. An army column carried out flag-march in the town. The mobs set fire to several government quarters occupied by executive members of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC). Four such residential quarters were burnt to ashes.
A senior official said some groups were initially staging sit-in demonstration outside the KAAC secretariat here since 11am. But as more groups turned up, the situation turned violent as the agitators first started pelting stones and then ransacked the KAAC offices. Police had to open fire at several places in the town to disperse the mobs.
A police source informed that mobs coming from different directions first attacked the fire service station in Diphu and immobilized all the three fire tenders before they proceeded to attack the secretariat of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC). The mob ransacked the office building and damaged official chambers of executive members of the council.
The agitators who were demanding resignation of all the executive members of the Congress-led council to press for creation of a separate State for Karbi tribe.
Twelve buses belonging to the Council were set on fire in the garage while residences of Karbi Anglong MP, Biren Singh Ingti (INC) and Diphu MLA, Bidyasing Engleng (INC) were also attacked by the mobs.
The agitators demanding a separate state called for road blockade on Thursday and Rail Roko on August 2. They have called for 100 twin hill districts bandh from August 5 to 9.
