Title - Assam riots spread to new areas, 19 injured

New Delhi: Fearing reprisals over the violence against Muslims in Assam, panic-stricken people from the northeast continued to flee from Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. Ethnic clashes between Bodos and Muslims that began in July spread to new areas such as Baksa, Nalbari and Kamrup districts on Thursday.
    Late on Thursday, more than 3,000 labourers from the northeast living in Chennai thronged the station to take the weekly Egmore-Dibrugarh Express after they heard rumours of planned attacks on them. Only about 300 could board the crowded train; the rest were waiting for the next trains from Bangalore.
    Things turned for the worse in Assam where at least 19 people were injured in two incidents of violence.
    In Kokrajhar district’s Gossaigaon, miscreants threw acid at nine Muslims; in Tamulpur, 10 Bodos agitating against the arrest of protesters were injured in clashes with police. The Army is already out in Baksa. The men in uniform have been pacing the streets of the Lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Bongaigaon since July 25.
    In Hyderabad, six youths from Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, who came to the city for competitive exam coaching, were allegedly threatened by locals and were forced to book their return flights .