Thousands of India troops try to quell ethnic attacks

KOKRAJHAR, India — Thousands of Indian troops marched through a northeast region Wednesday to quell ethnic violence that has killed at least 38 people, but roving bands of rioters continued sporadic attacks, ripping apart homes and setting them on fire.

Nearly 200,000 people have fled homes in western Assam state, bundling meager belongings in cloths and crowding into government camps for protection from violence that broke out late last week. Hundreds of wood and thatch houses have been burned.

One woman who had gone into early labor was taken by her husband in a pushcart to a camp, where she gave birth to a girl Sunday. Later, she learned her home had been burned down.

“I am just happy my baby is OK,” 25-year-old Ela Brahma said Wednesday in the camp, where some 1,000 people were taking shelter from the violence.

Police said they have discovered dozens of bodies hacked with machetes since the violence broke out in the district of Kokrajhar. Four bodies were found Wednesday in Chirang distract, according to police.

The clashes pit members of the ethnic Bodo community against Muslim settlers who mostly came from the former East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh in 1971. The groups have long accused each other of stealing land and have clashed repeatedly over the years.

Army and paramilitary soldiers have fatally shot five people since receiving a mandate Tuesday to shoot rioters on sight, Assam Home Secretary G.D. Tripathy said. Authorities reported two more deaths Wednesday, raising the overall toll to 34, and said the violence had spread within four districts.

Mobs ripped corrugatedtin rooftops from wooden and thatch homes before setting them on fire. In most cases, residents had left the homes before they were attacked.

Officials lifted a 24-hour curfew in the area for a few hours to allow people to collect food.

Desperate residents piled into Jeeps and atop open carts drawn by water buffalo to join caravans fleeing areas of violence.

Women crowded into camps wept over the uncertain fate of loved ones and the loss of their homes. Relief workers were desperately searching for doctors and nurses to tend to the ill and injured.

Roads were closed amid widespread protests, but train services resumed Wednesday under heavy security after three days of disruption, according to Railways spokesman S. Hajong. Paramilitary troops were standing guard along railway tracks, which had been cleared of protesters demanding that authorities restore security and order. On Tuesday, mobs hurled stones and bricks at the flagship Rajdhani Express, forcing it to reverse course and leave Assam.