GUWAHATI: Five Muslims were murdered in northeast India by an armed gang from the ethnic Bodo community in fresh violence, after more than a month of clashes, police said on Sunday.

“A group of seven Muslim villagers in two vehicles were returning home from a relief camp when they came under attack,” said Sanjit Krishna, police chief of the western Chirang district, in Assam state.

Five were found dead near Choudhurypara village, about 220 kilometres from Assam's main city of Guwahati, while police are trying to trace the other two.

The party had apparently been trying to reach their village after a few days of calm in the area and had dared to venture out on Saturday from their guarded government relief camp.

An estimated 90 people have died and 400,000 people from both communities are taking refuge in camps spread across four western Assamese districts of Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Baksa.

In a separate incident early on Sunday, four Muslim villagers were wounded in an attack by tribal Bodos in Kokrajhar.

The wave of violence, a recurrence of problems that have plagued the volatile region for decades, has had far-reaching consequences in India.—AFP