Two more bodies, including that of a woman, were recovered today from the troubled areas of Karbi Anglong district in Assam, taking the toll to eight since violence erupted there last week.
"Two more bodies were recovered from a Rengma-dominated village under the Borpathar police station. One of them is a woman," Karbi Anglong SP Mugdhajyoti Mahanta told PTI.
Of the other body, only the skeletal remains were found and Mahanta said that a DNA test would now be done to determine its gender.
Of the eight dead so far, two were militants.
Meanwhile, curfew was relaxed in the area during daytime.
"We have decided to relax the curfew during daytime. In the morning, it was relaxed for four hours and, after a gap of around two hours, it will again be relaxed for an identical period in the afternoon," he said. Mahanta, however, added that the night curfew would continue.
As to the deployment of additional security forces, the SP said that more personnel had arrived this morning and taken up search operations in the area.
Police have arrested 10 persons so far for the violence.
Assam's Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), AP Rout, had yesterday held a meeting with the district administration and claimed that the situation was expected to normalise within a couple of days.
Militants of the Karbi People's Liberation Tigers had last week attacked Rengma-dominated villages, killing four persons, three of them women.
Thereafter, in a retaliatory attack, terrorists belonging to Naga Rengma Hills Protection Force killed two KPLT militants inside a dense forest.
Around 1,000 people, mostly Rengmas, were rendered homeless after their houses were set on fire. Another 50,000 fled their homes.
Three relief camps have been set up by the district administration to shelter the displaced persons.
