Guwahati: Eight persons, including five militants, were killed in a clash with passengers on board a ferry sailing from Dhubri to Goalpara on the Brahmaputra in Assam today (Nov 8).

The clash occurred when passengers got suspicious of one person and asked him to open his bag, who in turn lobbed a grenade killing one passenger and tried to flee with other militants when the boat was sailing through Dindinga at Arikata area in Goalpara district, police sources said.

However, the passengers got together and challenged the militants, who again threw grenades killing two more passengers and injuring several others, they said.

The passengers overpowered five militants and lynched them, the sources said.

Senior civil and police officials of both Goalpara and Dhubri districts reached the scene, they said, adding patrolling on the river was intensified after the incident.

PTI