Two die in Assam ethnic clashes

Bihari settlers have been warned to leave Assam

Suspected rebels in India's north-eastern state of Assam have killed two immigrant workers, in continuing ethnic clashes over jobs.

Settlers in Haluakhuwa village were sprayed with bullets and their houses were burnt, Assam's police chief said.

On Saturday, suspected Assamese rebels have killed 11 Hindi-speaking migrants from neighbouring Bihar state.

About 40 people have died in clashes between Assamese and Hindi-speakers in the past week.

Police blamed the attacks on the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which has warned all Hindi-speaking people to leave the province.

An indefinite curfew was imposed in the area and troops given orders to shoot on sight any suspected rebels.

Several federal ministers visited some Assam on Saturday, saying that the continuing violence had become a "national problem".

Recent attacks have mostly targeted immigrant workers from Bihar state, to the north.

The most immediate cause of the clashes is competition over jobs at the state-run railways.

Correspondents say that Assamese militants also accuse settlers from Bihar of altering the region's ethnic balance.

Spate of attacks

A mob of about 40 people attacked Haluakhuwa before dawn, killing two settlers and torching several houses, Assam's police chief Khagen Sharma said.

Another person was injured during the attack.

The village lies in the troubled Tinsukia district, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of Guwahati, the state's main city.

On Saturday, suspected Assamese militants on motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on a group of Bihari labourers in the nearby Bordubi area, killing eight of them and injuring another two.

Just hours later, three settlers in the neighbouring village of Hebetakhoria were gunned down by the rebels.

Police blamed all the attacks on the outlawed ULFA, which is suspected of carrying out many of the attacks in Assam.

Police say that more than 15,000 Hindi-speaking people have fled Assam to escape violence and that another 1,000 are living in makeshift relief camps inside the state.

Train attacks

Over a week ago, train passengers arriving in Bihar state from Assam became the target of attacks by mobs.

Assamese train passengers were recently targets of Bihari mobs

The Bihar mobs were angry that youths in Assam had physically prevented candidates from Bihar from taking recruitment interviews for jobs at the state-run Indian Railways.

Hundreds of houses belonging to Bihari settlers have been set on fire by mobs.

About 2,000 Indian troops are deployed in much of Assam, but their presence failed to prevent the violence, correspondents say.