The region's Nepali-speaking Gorkha community has since last month held protests demanding a separate state, Gorkhaland, within India to protect their Himalayan culture. The eastern state of West Bengal, where the tea-growing region of Darjeeling is located, has deployed troops to keep the peace, the second time in three weeks, an army spokesman said. A senior police officer in Darjeeling said Bhutia might have been killed in a cross firing when security forces were attacked. The protesters also torched Sonada railway station - a UNESCO-listed heritage site - while sporadic incidents of violence in various other parts of the town ensued. At least 1,200 people died during the first Gorkhaland protests in the 1980s.

Source: bd News24 July 09, 2017 09:33 UTC