Nine people were killed and 89 injured in firing by police and Central Reserve Police Force. The victims included senior civil and police officials who were injured in stone-throwing, when a student demonstration turned violent in two disrticts of Meghalaya's Garo Hills region on Friday, official sources said in Shillong.

Four, including an elderly person, were killed in West Garo hills district headquarters town of Tura, about 300 kilometres from Shillong, where 64, including 36 police and security force personnel and 28 civilians were injured, they said.

Another five were killed, when the police and CRPF also fired in the adjoining East Garo hills district headquarters town of William nagar, about 350 kilometres from Shillong, they said. 25 others, including eight security personnel and state officials and 17 civilians, were injured in William nagar.

An additional superintendent of police and an additional district magistrate were injured in the conflict. The violence erupted almost simultaneously in the two districts around 10 AM after students and people gathered at the call of the Garo Students Union defying prohibitory orders.

The police and the security forces used canes and teargas shells, but when this proved ineffective, they opened fire, the sources said. The police also fired two rounds in the air to disperse a mob which attempted to take the bodies of those killed to Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Mukul Sangma's private residence in Tura.

Police reinforcements were air-lifted from Shillong to control the situation, sources said.