India: Five killed in election violence in West Bengal state

Rival parties blame each other for inciting the violence in battleground state’s Cooch Behar district.

At least five people have been killed by gunfire in election-related violence in India’s West Bengal state, according to police. Four people died and four others were wounded near a polling station in Cooch Behar district on Saturday when security forces opened fire to control a crowd, senior police officer Vishal Garg was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency. He gave no further details on what had sparked the clashes. In a separate incident, unidentified gunmen fired at voters at another polling booth in the same district, killing one person. Garg said police were investigating the attack.