Date:08/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/08/stories/2007100860381700.htm

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Woman killed in Nandigram violence

Special Correspondent

Supporters of rival groups fire at each other, police reinforcement sent

Trinamool, CPI(M) activists clash
The injured were admitted to a local hospital

KOLKATA: A woman was killed and two others were seriously injured in a fresh incident of violence that erupted in Nandigram area of West Bengal’s Purbo Medinipur district on Sunday.

The incident occurred when activists of the Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh (Resistance against Eviction from Land) Committee and supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) clashed in the Bhangaberia and Tekhali areas of Nandigram. Supporters of the rival groups fired at each other from country-made guns and bombs were exchanged, according to information reaching the city.

The injured were admitted to a local hospital. Police reinforcements have been sent to the area, a senior police official said here.

The incident comes as a major setback to the local authorities’ attempts to restore normality in a region that had been affected by intermittent violence over the past few months.

Sporadic clashes between rival groups have continued despite the State government’s decision against the setting up of a chemical hub in the area in the face of protests from a section of the people there.

There have been attempts over the past few weeks to arrive at an initiative for peace by bringing local leaders of the different political parties together.

A large number of people, largely supporters of the Left parties who had to abandon their homes in the Nandigram area and seek shelter in relief camps in the wake of the past hostilities, are yet to return.