Nellore: Forty passengers traveling in an RTC bus, bound for Chennai from Atmakur in Nellore, had a harrowing experience when six unidentified Tamil-speaking youths broke the glass panels of the vehicle and attempted to set fire to the bus on the national highway near Pudi village located between Tada town and the TN-AP border check-post on Tuesday night.

The incident is being viewed as in retaliation to the encounter killing of 20 persons belonging to Tamil Nadu near Tirupati on Tuesday. The youths, carrying sticks and petrol in plastic sachets, arrived in three Pulsar motorbikes and stopped the bus by placing the motorcycle on the road. They smashed the glass panels soon after the bus halted and also assaulted the driver when he tried to stop them.

Meanwhile, fringe outfits resorted to protests in a few parts of Chennai as well. Andhra Pradesh registered buses and those belonging to the APSRTC were targeted at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus, where members of fringe Tamil outfits pelted stones at five buses damaging their windshields.

Police said two buses were targeted in Poonamallee too. “No passengers were injured in any of the attacks. A police team rushed to the scene and two persons, Adhiyaman and Balan of a fringe Tamil outfit, were arrested in Koyambedu, while Shanmugam and Muthu of another outfit surrendered.