Seven dead in Bengal strike clashes

Indian officials say at least seven opposition supporters have been killed as a twelve-hour strike paralysed much of West Bengal.

Pro-government activists attacked a village Garbeta south of Calcutta, killing six members of the opposition Trinamool Congress party and setting fire to hundreds of houses.

In another incident at Coochbehar in the north of the state, home-made bombs were thrown at an opposition procession, killing at least one person.

The BBC correspondent in Calcutta says the strike's impact has been almost total; no trains are running, schools, colleges and businesses are closed, and even attendance at government offices has been thin.

It was called in protest at attacks on opposition followers by supporters of the Marxist-Communist-dominated West Bengal government. The opposition wants the Indian authorities to impose central rule on the state.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service