At least six people were injured after fresh clashes broke out between the residents of Assam and Mizoram on Tuesday close to the border between the two neighbouring states, the Hindustan Times reported.

The scuffle broke out in the Zophai area near Mizoram’s Bairabi town in Kolasib district, police said, according to the EastMojo. The area is known as Kachurthal in Assam and falls within the Hailakandi district.

The dispute was related to the construction of a link road in Assam’s side of the border, Deputy Inspector General of Police Dilip Kumar Dey told the Hindustan Times. “Some Mizoram residents obstructed the construction and it led to a fight between residents of both states and several people got injured.” he added. “Three persons on our side got injured.”

Hailakandi Superintendent of Police Pabindra Kumar Nath said that three persons from Mizoram also sustained minor injuries in the clash. Of the three from Assam, one was discharged after receiving first aid, while the other two were taken to Hailakandi civil hospital, the official said.

“Though construction was taking place in Assam, Mizoram claims the territory to be disputed,” Nath added. “The injuries sustained by the six persons are not serious.”

Deputy Inspector General of Police Dey alleged that some villagers from Mizoram also burnt down houses. “Our personnel dispersed the crowd on reaching the spot,” he said. “But while returning back to Mizoram, the miscreants burnt down at least 18 houses on the Assam side.”

Meanwhile, a local leader in Mizoram told EastMojo that at least six farm huts on Mizoram’s side, occupied by non-tribal or Assam residents, were set on fire by a mob.

The state police said the clashes erupted when two staff members of the Mizoram Power and Electricity department were allegedly beaten up by some Assamese people. A member of Bairabi village council was also allegedly thrashed, the police said.

The situation was brought under control with the deployment of security forces on either side of the border, the police said, adding that there was no fatalities in the clash.

Bairabi North Village Council president R Lalfakawma alleged that Assam had encroached on Mizoram’s territory by constructing a link road up to paddy fields in Mizoram side. He said that the paddy fields were owned by the Mizos “from time immemorial”.

Tuesday’s incident took place less than a week after a school near the Assam-Mizoram border in Hailakandi district was damaged in two bomb blasts by unidentified miscreants on February 3, reported the Hindustan Times.

Mizoram was carved out of Assam in 1972, when it became a separate Union Territory. In 1987, it became a full-fledged state. The three South Assam districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj share a 164.6 kilometre-long border with Mizoram’s Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts. The boundary between the two states is disputed at several points. Assam and Mizoram have often sparred over it, sometimes violently. Several rounds of dialogue, at various levels, since 1994 have failed to resolve the disagreement.

Also read:

On the Assam-Mizoram border, a territorial dispute acquires an ethnic tinge