Kolkata/Nandigram, Jan 8 (IANS) A 24-hour shutdown Monday to protest killings in West Bengal's Nandigram over land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) impacted life throughout the state as reports of fresh violence came in from the area where at least four bodies have been found.

Angry villagers torched a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) party office at 6 a.m. at Dinbandhupur in Nandigram Monday , the police said, as the opposition-called shutdown came into force.

According to Raj Kanojia, inspector general of police (law and order), at least four bodies have been recovered following the clashes between farmers resisting land acquisition for a SEZ and activists of the ruling CPI-M.

Train services have been affected badly in the strike, called by the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI). Most schools and shops were closed in Kolkata and few buses could be seen on the roads.

There were reports of tension in Kolkata's Hazra area near the house of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee after the police clashed with Trinamool demonstrators.

The Congress called a 24-hour Bengal shutdown soon after Trinamool Congress gave a 12-hour call as the Nandigram incidents unfolded. The SUCI, a militant Left opposition party, also gave a separate shutdown call.

There were incidents of overnight firing and bombings in the area as police entered the villages for the first time since Wednesday. Police were attacked and injured by villagers angry over reports of land acquisition notification for a chemical hub and an SEZ in collaboration with Indonesia's Salim group.

Villagers, who were guarding their lands under the banner of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Committee to Resist Eviction from Land), however, alleged that CPI-M men tried to enter their homes in police uniform even Sunday night.

Electronic media and political parties, including CPI-M, put the toll from Sunday violence at between six and 10.