More riots swept through India’s northeastern Assam region Tuesday, with the death toll climbing to 32.
The local government was forced to deploy 1,500 extra paramilitary troops to the region.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told chief minister Tarun Gogoi to do everything possible to quell the unrest between Muslim immigrants and Bodos, a local tribal group in the state.
“Incidents of violence are taking place mainly in the interior areas of the districts. About 60 villages, mostly abandoned, were burned by miscreants in the two districts,” an official, who was not named, told the Hindustan Times.
As many as 170,000 people have been forced to flee and some took refuge in nearby camps set up by the government, the Indian Express reported. Other reports suggest that fewer people fled the violence.
The violence was sparked July 19 when gunmen attacked two student leaders in Magurbari. After this incident, four former Bodo militants were shot dead.
Both communities accused the other of ethnic cleansing and attacked one another.
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