GUWAHATI (India), Feb 11: Fourteen people were killed in Maoist rebel-related incidents in Indian states of Assam and Chattisgarh.

Nine people were killed in a clash with police in India’s northeastern Assam state over the death of a rebel suspect in army custody while Maoist rebels killed five people in a remote village in eastern Indian state of Chattisgarh, police said Saturday In Assam, police opened fire on thousands of protesters in a clash that erupted on Friday after the family of the suspected militant found his body last Sunday in a hospital morgue in Tinsukia, police said.

“Seven civilians and two paramilitary soldiers have died in the clash and at least 35 more are wounded, including two dozen policemen,” Debojit Hazarika, police chief of Assam state’s Tinsukia district, said.

Shoot-at-sight orders and a curfew were imposed in the district late Friday after the clash, police said.

Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi expressed her regret over the police firing and said “strongest action” would be taken against security personnel found to be involved in the incident.

Among the victims was a paramilitary trooper lynched by the mob when police fired at the crowd in Tinsukia, 520 kilometers from Guwahati.— AFP