GUWAHATI: Fourteen Santhals, including nine women and two infants, were hacked to death by Bodo militants in Dhubri district of Assam on Monday night, official sources said. Four bodies, including that of a six-month old girl, were recovered from the nearby jungles surrounding Khoiraguri village. The victims, who were standing in a queue outside an oil depot, were dragged away by the Bodos around 8 am to the jungles and hacked to death. Terrified locals reported the incident to the police around 10 pm.

Undertrials escape

PATNA: Five undertrials today escaped from the Khagaria court lock-up when they were being brought to the court. Police said a total 70 prisoners were being taken together to the court. A manhunt has been launched for the fugitives.

800 rounded up

CHENNAI: Over 800 persons, many of them belonging to the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, have been taken into preventive custody in the wake of discovery of fiveexplosive devices in various parts of the state, police said. These include 15 members of the banned Islamic outfit Al Umma, suspected to be behind the planting of explosives.

Postal dept clarifies

NEW DELHI: The Department of Posts (DoP) on Tuesday clarified that the postal tariff for packets containing printed books has not been revised. ``It would continue to be 50 paise for first 100 grams or fraction thereof and 50 paise for every additional 100 grams or fraction thereof in excess of 100 grams,'' an official release said.

Indian pair in semis

PARIS: India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi cruised into the men's doubles semifinals of the French Open tennis tournament, beating the South African-US pair of Elis Ferreira and Rick Leach at Roland Garros on Tuesday. The top seeded Indians had a relatively easy match, winning it 7-5, 6-2 in the quarter-finals.