More Than 50 Dead In Indian Violence

Second Day Of Attacks In Northeast, Kashmir Claim Dozens Of Lives

(AP)  The militants say the central government in New Delhi, 1,000 miles to the west, exploits the northeast's natural resources while doing little for its indigenous peoples, most of whom are ethnically closer to Burma and China than to the rest of India.

The violence is an attempt “to cash in on the popular anti-outsider feeling among the masses who are agitated over the fact that up to two million people in Assam are without jobs,” said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi.

Despite the high unemployment, many Assamese prefer their traditional lifestyle as small farmers rather than working in many of the menial jobs performed by migrants — making bricks and laboring in factories and mines.

The attacks come as Assam prepares to host next month's National Games, India's biggest sporting event. The United Liberation Front has urged spectators and competitors to boycott the games, but authorities insist they will not let the event be disrupted.

Kashmir Violence Erupts

Meanwhile in the northwest, in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, a grenade blast on a busy road killed two people and wounded 19 others, including five soldiers, on Saturday, police said.

Police said one civilian was killed when suspected Islamic militants
hurled a grenade hurled at an army patrol.

Police said a second civilian died later in hospital.

Civilians injured in the attack were rushed to Srinagar's main hospital,
where they were treated by medical staff.

Four people remain in a critical condition, police said.

The attack took place in the town of Shopian, 35 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.

No other details were immediately available.

Over a dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting Indian security forces in an attempt to gain independence for Muslim-majority Kashmir from predominantly Hindu India, or to merge the Himalayan territory with mostly Muslim Pakistan.