NEW DELHI, India - Thousands of people from northeast India have fled the southern Indian city Bangalore after receiving rumors through cell phone and internet that they will be attacked, said local media Thursday.

Railway authorities said they have sold nearly 5,000 tickets to people bound for Guwahati, the capital of the northeast state of Assam and have arranged a 20-compartment special train to Guwahati, reported local daily The Times of India.

However, police said no incident of intimidation of northeastern people has come to their notice so far and cops are ready to go to the door steps of northeastern students if there is any instance of them being threatened.

The panic reaction comes in the wake of rumors being spread through SMSs, chain mails and social networking sites that people from the northeast would be attacked in Bangalore.

Intelligence sources said at least 4,000 people flocked to the Bangalore City railway station on Wednesday evening to board the two trains to Guwahati.

Communal violence killed over 70 in Assam over the past one month in fighting between Muslims and local Bodo people.