Stray incidents of clashes in Assam, toll rises to 45

With the recovery of a ody in the violence-hit lower Assam districts, the death toll in the unrest on Friday rose to 45, while the army staged flag marches in worst-hit Kokrajhar and curfew was relaxed in some of the affected districts.

A body was found floating in river Gouranga in Dhubri district while 11 people were reported missing on the eighth day of the strife, official sources said.

In Baksa district, where clashes between minority immigrants and Bodos were reported only, unidentified persons torched three houses at Simla in Daodhar village, they said. There was no casualty or injury.

In the other three riot-torn BTAD districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri, stray attacks and counter-attacks by the two communities continued.

Curfew was relaxed on Friday in Kokrajhar district from 6 am to 6 pm, while it was relaxed from 8 am to 10 pm in the minority-dominated Dhubri district. Night curfew will continue in Chirang, the sources said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit Kokrajhar district, which has seen the maximum number of casualties, tomorrow to review the situation.

Train services, which resumed on Wednesday after being paralysed for two days, were reported normal.

Nearly two lakh people have taken shelter in 250 relief camps, the sources said.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 55 more doctors have been sent to relief camps in the five districts of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Baksa and Dhubri in addition to the medical staff sent on Thursday.

Already a team of doctors from the Guwahati Medical College was working in Kokrajhar.

Sarma said though there was adequate supply of medicines in the affected districts, four more trucks of medicines have been sent as precautionary measure.