One of India's most isolated tribes, the Dongria Kondh, is preparing to stop British FTSE 100 company Vedanta from mining aluminum ore on their sacred mountain, after police and hired thugs forced protesters to dismantle a barricade over the weekend. About 150 people had blocked the road in Orissa state Oct. 8 when hearing that Vedanta intended to start survey work for the planned mine which would destroy an ecologically vital hill, and the Dongria Kondh's most sacred site. Vedanta employees visited the blockade repeatedly, threatening the protesters. On Oct. 10 the villagers gave in and took down the barricade, but about 100 are still at the side of the road, blocking traffic when Vedanta vehicles approach.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is calling on India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the ethnic violence that left 55 dead and more than 200,000 displaced in his state over the past week. "The culprits involved in the clashes must be identified and punished," he said. The clashes, centered around Udalguri district, were between the Bodo tribal people and Bangladeshi settlers, who fought with guns, bows and arrows, machetes and spears. But at least 24 of the dead were shot by police who fired into the crowds.

A suicide bomber struck the offices of the opposition United National Party (UNP) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, Oct. 6, killing at least 27. Authorities blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The attack came as the military announced it is on the verge of capturing the Tigers' headquarters at Kilinochchi. The blast killed local UNP head and retired army general Janaka Perera, who was attending an opening ceremony at the office. Perera, whose wife was also killed, was credited with major victories over the Tigers—including a 1996 battle in which 200 rebels were killed with the loss of just one soldier. But the UNP supports a negotiated settlement with the Tigers and says the current offensive is being used by the government for political ends. (AFP, Oct. 6)

The conflicted Indian state of Gujarat is on alert after a terror attack in the predominantly Muslim town of Modasa Sept. 29 that killed at least one person and injured 12. Two men on a motorcycle reportedly threw a bomb at a crowded market as residents were shopping for the coming festival of Eid. (IANS, Sept. 30) Over two dozen churches were attacked in Karnataka over the past week. This follows similar clashes in Orissa in which at least 25 people died after the killing of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader. A cathedral in Madhya Pradesh was also torched. (IANS, Sept. 28)

Synchronized explosions hit five crowded markets and thoroughfares in New Delhi Sept. 13—including Connaught Place, a tourist destination in the heart of the city. The blasts left 23 dead and over 100 injured. A group called Indian Mujahedeen sent an e-mail message to TV stations minutes before the attacks. "Eye for an eye," said the document, with the image of victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots. "The dust will never settle down."

At least two were killed and 80 wounded in renewed repression in India-controlled Kashmir Sept. 12. Police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds in two towns near Srinagar after separatist leaders issued a call for Muslims across the region to protest Indian rule following Friday prayers. A curfew is in force in Shopian, where one protester was killed. A second was killed in Baramulla. Mohammed Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was injured when police used tear-gas and batons to break up protests in Srinagar. (AlJazeera, Sept. 12)

Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was elected president of Pakistan Sept. 6 by a wide margin. Zardari—who spent 11 years in prison on corruption charges that remain unproved—succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month under threat of impeachment. He is expected to be sworn in next week. The day of his election, a suicide car bombing on a police post in Peshawar killed at least 30 people and injured dozens others. Elsewhere in the city, a suicide attack on a military checkpoint killed 16 people. At Tehsil Matta village in the Swat valley, 24 people were killed as residents foiled an attempted kidnapping by local militants. (IHT, Sept. 7; AP, Australian Broadcasting Co., Sept. 6)

Pakistan opened an investigation Sept. 1 into the killings of five women in Baluchistan who tried to choose their own husbands, after a federal lawmaker from the province defended their deaths, asserting that "only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." Sen. Israr Ullah Zehri told the parliament chamber Aug. 30, "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them."