KOLKATA, Feb 5: Four people were killed when police in India opened fire on Tuesday on a rally protesting against high unemployment in poverty-hit West Bengal state, an official said.

Police said the rally turned violent when demonstrators threw stones, adding officers first responded with a baton charge but then opened fire to control the crowd.

“Police fired to quell the violent mob,” West Bengal state police official Raj Kanojia told on telephone from northern Cooch Behar district, 600 kilometres from the state capital Kolkata.

The death toll rose to four after two more people succumbed to injuries, Kanojia said.

Police said the unrest had been brought under control thanks to security reinforcements, but that the area was still tense.

Kanojia estimated that up to 20 people were injured.

Hundreds of leftwing Forward Bloc party members joined the protest. The party is allied with the government of the Communist-run state in eastern India, but is opposed to many of its policies.

West Bengal has been shaken by a string of violent protests that claimed at least 34 lives last year against moves to take over agricultural land for industrial purposes.

There was no immediate reaction from the West Bengal government to the latest shooting incident.—AFP