Goa governor survives bomb attack in Nagaland

Guwahati: The governor of Goa, S.C. Jamir, survived a fourth assassination bid yesterday when he escaped unhurt after separatists set off bombs on the route of his convoy travelling in Nagaland state.

"The governor''s 30-vehicle convoy was on its way from the town of Mokokchung to Dimapur in Nagaland when it came under bomb attack near the village of Changki," Deputy Commissioner of Mokokchung R. Lotha said.

"Except for two security men who sustained minor injuries, there were no casualties in the attack," Lotha said.

A former chief minister of Nagaland, Jamir has survived three earlier assassination attempts.

He was appointed governor of Goa in 2004, has executive powers under the Indian constitution and appoints key state government officials.

"A total of five explosions took place, all from improvised explosive devices, as the convoy was negotiating a stretch of the road that was under construction. The bombs were placed on a drain along the road," said Lotha.

Policemen found four live bombs and a loaded rifle near the attack site in Mokokchung, about 160km south-west of nagaland's capital Kohima.

Police officials said that they had yet not established the identity of the rebel group which may have carried out the attack.

This is the fourth time Jamir had a providential escape since 1993 when the he was seriously wounded in an attack at Nagaland House in New Delhi. Another abortive attempt on his life was made in Kohima in 1995.

In 1999, he escaped once again an ambush carried out at a place 30km from Kohima. Two members of his personal security force were killed in the attack.

Guwahati (IANS) At least five people were killed and over 70 wounded, 30 of them critically, in a mob attack yesterday on tribal protesters in Assam's main city of Guwahati, officials said.

A curfew was imposed in the city's Bentola area after the incident.

A police spokesman said the clash took place when about 10,000 tribal people, backed by the All Assam Adivasi Students Association, took out a protest rally demanding Scheduled Tribe status for the community. "Local residents of Guwahati and the protesters clashed in the streets after the agitators damaged about 100 vehicles and destroyed shops. The angry locals retaliated by attacking the protesters in which five Adivasi people were killed," senior police official Rajen Singh said.

Police fired in the air to disperse the protesters when they tried to break a security cordon to take out the march through the city streets. "Local residents armed with sticks and iron rods, besides crude implements, attacked the fleeing protesters," said a witness.