By IANS,
Kolkata : Two people were killed early Wednesday when Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Trinamool Congress supporters clashed in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, police said.
The clash occurred at Chanuch village in Dubrajpur block with the rival groups using sharp weapons and firearms following a dispute, Birbum superintendent of police Rabindranath Mukherjee told IANS.
He said one of those who died lived in nearby Adampur village. The identity of the other victim was yet unknown.
A CPI-M official claimed that the dead were their supporters who had been leading a group of villagers ousted from their homes by the Trinamool Congress. “When the group went to Chanuch village they were attacked,” the official said.
A Trinamool Congress local leader said the CPI-M men had attacked Chanuch by gathering anti-socials who had to backtrack after they faced strong resistance from the villagers. “The two dead were part of the raiders,” the leader said.
West Bengal had been witness to recurrent clashes between the CPI-M and the Trinamool Congress since last year’s Lok Sabha polls that saw the opposition party decimate the Marxist-led ruling Left Front.