Army conducts flag march in Assam's troubled district

Army Thursday conducted flag march in Assam's troubled Golaghat district near the border with Nagaland, even as a youth was injured when security forces fired rubber bullets at protestors who defied a curfew.

Curfew was imposed in the district Wednesday after three people died when police fired at protestors, who took to the streets in Rongajan and Arengapathar areas in the district to denounce "police atrocities".

Violence erupted along the Sector B of Assam-Nagaland border last week that killed nine persons and left over 10,000 people homeless on the Assam side of the border.

Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, Thursday arrived here to hold talks with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang at the Administrative Staff College here.

Assam Additional Director General of Police A. P. Raut said: "Two protestors died on the spot yesterday (Wednesday) due to firing, one injured girl died late at night while being shifted to Guwahati Medical College for better treatment."

"Today (Thursday), there are two groups of people, who defied the curfew near Numaligarh. The police had to use force to disperse them and at one incident had to use rubber bullets, leading to the injury of one youth," Raut said.

Meanwhile, life came to a halt in most of the places in Assam Thursday due to the 12-hour bandh called by the Asom Gana Parishad in protest against the state government's failure to protect the people living in Assam-Nagaland border.

Chief Minister Gogoi Wednesday blamed the central government for the imbroglio along the Assam-Nagaland border and said the Narendra Modi government had not taken the issue seriously.