Nine people, including five militants, were killed in a clash that broke out today on a ferry on the Brahmaputra in Assam’s Goalpara district after passengers tried to frisk a suspicious-looking co-passenger who turned out to be a National Democratic Front of Bodoland member.Sources said as some passengers tried to check the bag, the latter hurled a grenade that killed a 16-year-old boy. Even as passengers began beating him up, his four accomplices tried to jump on to another boat. But passengers lynched them, sources said. By that time, the militants exploded another grenade that killed two other passengers, and injured five. A fourth passenger, who sustained injuries, died in Goalpara hospital. While the passengers beat the five militants to death, they also recovered a grenade, a pistol and some incriminating documents from bags the five were carrying.
