Thousands flee in India after Muslim attack rumours
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Northeastern Indian minority residents of Bangalore wait on the platform of the city railway station to board trains bound to Guwahati, to leave the city following rumours of communal violence against them, on August 16, 2012 in Bangalore. -- PHOTO: AFP
BANGALORE, India (AFP) - Thousands of Indians from the country's north-east fled southern cities on Thursday after rumours they would be attacked by Muslims in reprisal for recent ethnic violence, officials said.
Railway officials said they had put on extra trains from Bangalore to the north-eastern state of Assam to accommodate a spike in demand after 6,000 tickets were sold since Wednesday evening.
People arriving in Assam's main city of Guwahati also told local television they had taken last-minute decisions to flee Hyderabad and the southern state of Kerala.
"We are investigating the source of these rumours and who is behind them," Bangalore deputy commissioner of police Vincent S. D'Souza told AFP.
