rediff.com: Curfew imposed in Tripura after massacre: Reuters

Paramilitary troops have been deployed in strength in Tripura following the killing of 22 people in ethnic violence in the province on Saturday, police said.

The authorities ordered an indefinite curfew in the affected Kalyanpur and Teliamara areas in west Tripura after tribals and immigrant Bengali settlers were killed in tit-for-tat violence.

The worst incident occurred late on Saturday when suspected guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of Tripura raided a school building and opened fire, killing at least 14 Bengalis. A hundred Bengali villagers had taken shelter there after their houses were burnt.

State Director General of Police K T D Singh told Reuters that the situation was tense but under control following deployment of paramilitary troops.

"There has been no fresh incident since Sunday morning," Singh said, adding that the security forces have been put on maximum alert in the entire state.

The killings started after suspected Bengali militants on Saturday detonated a bomb on a passenger jeep carrying tribals, killing six and injuring eight in the Kalyanpur region, about 85 km (50 miles) north of the state capital Agartala. One tribal later died in hospital.

In retaliation, tribals attacked Bengalis, lynching a youth in Kalyanpur and killing at least 14 others in Baghber, some 95 km (60 miles) north of Agartala.

The state's acting chief minister, Anil Sarkar, said that while 14 deaths have been confirmed in the Baghber attack, the toll could rise as a number of people had been injured.

"Suspected NLFT rebels arrived in the makeshift evacuee camp and opened indiscriminate fire from automatic weapons," Singh said.

The authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in Kalyanpur and Teliamura police station area of Khowai sub-division in West Tripura district following large scale ethnic clashes, police said.

West Tripura Superintendent of Police Punit Rastogi said several houses of both communities were set on fire.

Tripura, which juts into eastern Bangladesh, has been plagued by insurgency linked to tribal feuds or ethnic rights for two decades.

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