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Eleven killed in political clash in West Bengal |
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July 28, 2000
CALCUTTA (AP) - Communists clashed with supporters of a rival political group with spears and swords in an eastern Indian state Thursday, killing at least 11 people, a government official said. The trouble arose over the harvesting of paddy crop on a disputed land in Sujapur, a village 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal state, said S.K. Upadhyaya, a local officer. Tension has been building up between the leftist groups and the Trinamool Congress, which is trying to dislodge the Communist Party of India (Marxist) government in West Bengal state. Thursday's clash was between the activists of the Forward Bloc of India, an ally of the CPI (M), and supporters of the Trinamool Congress. Elections to the state legislature are due early next year. The CPI(M) has been ruling the West Bengal state for two decades. It recently lost the local elections in Calcutta to the Trinamool Congress, a breakaway group of the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi. |