In a fresh flare-up the panchayat elections, several houses have been set on fire during a clash with bombs & guns between supporters of Left Front partners CPM & RSP in Birbhum district in West Bengal on Saturday morning. Trouble started on Friday night with a number of houses being set ablaze & the violence spilled over to the morning.

Accusing the CPM of attacking RSP supporters, RSP leader & state’s PWD minister Kshiti Goswami said that he had sought Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattcharjee’s intervention to help defuse tension. Police said that the Eastern Frontier Rifles & the Police Combat Force arrested four persons for the violence.