Thirty-four persons, including four policemen, were injured in a clash between rival political parties in Tripura ahead of the assembly polls slated for February 26, police said on Monday.
The fight between supporters of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist and opposition Congress-Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura combine broke out at Pechartahal in North Tripura district, when unidentified miscreants pelted stones at a CPI-M procession on Sunday evening.
The police resorted to a lathi charge and firing in the air to disperse the clashing groups. No one was injured in the firing.
Among the injured, 25 were CPI-M supporters and the rest were those of the Congress-INPT alliance, sources said.
On Monday, Borok National Council of Tripura militants abducted 12 persons from Emrapassa village in North Tripura district.
The victims were Bengalis, who belonged to a cultural group that had assembled in a house to rehearse for a drama. The militants have not yet made any demands.
The BNCT, an offshoot of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura, is fighting for a separate tribal homeland.
The tribals, who accuse Bengali settlers of grabbing their lands and endangering their culture, often abduct people and demand ransom.
In yet another incident on Sunday, NLFT ultras abducted two drivers of the General Reserve Engineering Force after stopping their vehicles at gunpoint at Manu-Thalcherra in Dhalai district.
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