An indefinite curfew has been clamped in three upper Assam towns as violence against army and administration continued unabated, leaving at least six dead, 40 injured, beside causing damages to post office, railway platform and vehicles.
Tinsukia district control room officials confirmed that violence had spread from Kakpothar to Penegeri and then to Makum resulting in army firing which left three girls, an old man and another youth dead while a mob killed a Central Reserve Police Force jawan.
None of them have been identified so far and more bodies are excepted to be recovered Saturday morning, sources said.
The mob set the Makum post office on fire and damaged the railway station, also removing the railway lines Friday night.
The villagers were angry over the ongoing army atrocities for some time as well as the custodial death of one person.
Local legislator Pradyut Bordoloi rushed to the spot, but official sources said that more than 20,000 people had laid a seige over every government installation. They have been blocking the National Highway 52 for past four days.
According to an Assam Medical College source, 17 injured people were shifted to Dibrugarh while another 20 were shifted to Tinsukia, many of whom received bullet injuries.
Complete chaos and mayhem prevailed in the area as administration caved in and the mob threatening to torch the police station.
Police had been firing in the air to disperse the mob. The mob has been demanding that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should come to the spot and the guilty be punished on the spot.
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