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In Pictures: Violence erupts in Assam

Rioting in the northeastern Indian state has caused dozens of deaths and forced thousands to flee.

Fighting between Bodo tribespeople and Muslims rocked India(***)s northeastern Assam state in late July. Here, a house burns in the Serfhngguri village in Kokrajhar district.

By Biju Boro

Published On 15 Aug 2012

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In July, rioting in the Indian state of Assam resulted in the deaths of nearly 80 people, most of whom are Muslims of Bengali origin.

In response to the violence, the state government has deployed the military and issued orders to shoot on sight.

Now, hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the unrest are living in makeshift camps. 

The violence displaced nearly 350,000 people. The state government called in the Indian Army who have orders to shoot rioters in order to maintain calm.
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Some Muslim women in Assam have complained that local Bodo politicians helped stoke ethnic violence.
Fighting also displaced children from the Bodo tribe who gathered at a relief camp in Denborgoan village on August 13. Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, along with newly elected Sushil Kumar Shindey, the Home Minister, visited the region on Monday almost three weeks after ethnic violence left 77 people dead.
Muslims gathered at a relief camp in the Kokrajhar district, about 230 km from Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, on July 23.
In Assam, Muslims of Bengali origin originally hail from what is now Bangladesh, after British colonials apparently brought them to Assam as farm labourers.
Houses were burned in Kachugaon village in the Kokrajhar district, about 230 km from Guwahati, the capital city of Assam.
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On July 25, houses burned by rioters in Nelibari village, near the Dangtol Railway Station in Chirang District.
Ethnic violence has hit Assam before, with intense periods rocking the region and displacing tens of thousands in 1996-1997 and 1979-1985.