Indian police opened fire on an angry mob protesting against the unfair distribution of relief for flood victims in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar, killing three people, officials said on Tuesday.
More than 1,800 people have died in South Asia's worst monsoon flooding in at least 15 years. Bihar is one of the worst affected states and is still partly submerged.
Officials said two people were injured when police fired at the mob in self-defence on Monday in the village of Una, 185 km (115 miles) north of the state capital, Patna. Six police were also hurt, one seriously, they said.
"The police had to resort to firing because the mob had attacked officers distributing relief material," said K.P. Ramaiya, commissioner of Darbhanga district.
Desperation is growing at the slow delivery of relief in the state, as well as anger at corrupt local officials accused of hoarding the precious supplies of aid which are trickling in.
Ramaiya said flood victims, who had stopped rail and road traffic in the region, were angry because they said the village headman was discriminating unfairly in drawing up a list of flood victims who would qualify for aid.
It was the second time this month police have fired on angry flood victims in Bihar.
Bihar's state government said it had ordered an inquiry into the confrontation.
Bangladesh is also struggling to cope with the aftermath of floods, with more than 175,000 people suffering from diarrhoea and local hospitals crowded with patients.
Two more people have died since noon on Monday, bringing the death toll to around 880.
The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) chief said the floods - the worst in 15 years - were a "huge body blow" to Bangladesh but praised government efforts in getting food to millions of displaced people.
"One senses the country has learned to deal with it. This is not to take away from the fact it is a disaster and a huge body blow to the country," UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown told Reuters in Fakirkhali, near Dhaka, after visiting a crowded relief camp and handing out sacks of food to flood victims.
The UN food agency, the World Food Programme, has estimated that some 20 million people in the impoverished country were in urgent need of food aid following the floods which submerged hundreds of thousands of hectares of agriculture land.
Thousands of people are also suffering from pneumonia and jaundice in water-logged areas, with clean drinking water in short supply and thousands of wells polluted after being submerged in the floods.
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