Diphu/Darjeeling:
Two persons were killed in police firing in escalating violence in the agitation for a separate Karbi Anglong state in Assam on the lines of Telangana which also spurred Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to call for an indefinite bandh from Saturday for separate Gorkhaland in eastern region.
As large-scale arson broke out, the Army, called in Wednesday, was on stand by to assist the Karbi Anglong district administration with police and paramilitary forces on patrol, official sources in Diphu, headquarters of Karbi Anglong district, said.
One person Gautam Timung was killed in police firing on Thursday taking the death toll to two in Karbi Anglong district with statehood agitators defying indefinite curfew and targeting All India Radio and other public buildings in Diphu over the demand for a separate state carved out of two Assam districts.
The incident happened when agitators tried to remove a section of railway line after they were repaired following removal of another portion at a place between Doldoli and Dhansiri on the Diphu-Dimapur line, official sources said.
22-year-old college student Rahul Signa, who was injured in police firing on Wednesday, died of his injuries late last night, the sources said.
The police fired in the air near the All India Radio building after agitators set ablaze satellite dishes halting broadcast and relay and torched a waiting room made of wood, the sources said.
Also set on fire were wooden offices of the Public Works Department, Forest and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the sources said.
The office of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, Assam's apex literary body, was damaged as also books, they said.
Reversing its decision within hours after the arrival of central forces in the hills, the GJM said it took a 'hard decision' for an indefinite bandh in Darjeeling from Saturday to demand a Gorkhaland state on the lines of Telangana.
