May 12, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1424

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KOLKATA, May 11: Fourteen people were killed and at least 20 injured on Sunday in violence during elections for more than 50,000 village council seats in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, police said.

West Bengal Police Deputy Inspector Narayan Chandra said that supporters of the ruling Marxist Communist Party of India and the opposition hurled bombs at one another at a number of polling stations.

“So far, 14 people died after they suffered bomb injuries. At least 20 people, who also sustained bomb injuries, were hospitalised,” Chandra said. “The injured included an election officer.”

Of the victims, seven died in the southern district of 24-Parganas, four in the northeastern district of Murshidabad bordering Bangladesh and the rest in the town of Barasat, about 30 kilometres east of the state capital Calcutta.

In Murshidabad, police opened fire to disperse the warring parties without inflicting further injuries, Chandra said.

Police arrested more than 6,500 people across the state.—AFP