Planning A report claims that there was a secret meeting in early July 1960, at a school in
Sibsagar. This was said to have been organized by the Teachers' Association. During the meeting, the massacre was planned as an attack on the
Bengalis. The next day a students' strike was organised at Sibsagar and groups of students and youths were sent to
Jorhat,
Dibrugarh and other adjoining areas to communicate the decision of the meeting.
Massacre On 14 July 1960, riots began in Sibsagar with the looting of Bengali shops and assaults on several Bengalis. In lower Assam (
Kamrup,
Nowgong and
Goalpara) intense violence occurred in 25 villages in
Goreswar (in
Kamrup district). On 3 July an Assamese mob of 15,000, armed with guns and other weapons, raided Bengali shops and houses. The whole area was ransacked. According to an inquiry commissioned under Justice Gopalji Mahotra, 4,019 huts and 58 houses were vandalized or destroyed. The commission reported that at least nine
Bengalis were killed and more were wounded or crippled. There is also a report that one woman was attacked and raped. Nearly 1,000 Bengali Hindus fled from the area during the riot. == Aftermath ==