The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Guwahati

India's Assam state deployed thousands of paramilitary troops Monday to quell clashes between Muslim migrants and tribal groups that have left more than 30 people dead.

More than 60,000 people have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the violence that broke out Friday and swiftly spread through three districts of the northeastern state.

A senior Assam police official said an additional 2,100 paramilitary personnel were being sent to the affected areas, where curfews with shoot-on-sight orders have already been imposed.

The clashes, between members of the Bodo tribal group and Muslim settlers originally from Bangladesh, have witnessed raids on numerous villages by groups armed with bows and poison-tipped arrows, spears and machetes.

"They set fire to a large a number of homes in my village," said Dipali Basumatary, who had taken shelter with her two children in a government-run relief camp.

At least half the fatalities so far have been people killed in police firing.