Thaindian News

Guwahati, Oct 4 (IANS) At least 10 people were killed and 12 wounded, three of them critically, in a daring attack by tribal separatists in Assam late Sunday, officials said.
A police spokesperson said heavily armed militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) attacked Balisang village in Sonitpur district, about 240 km north of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

“A group of about a dozen-odd NDFB militants using automatic weapons opened indiscriminate fire on villagers killing 10 people and injuring at least a dozen more,” a senior police official said by telephone.

The injured were shifted to a local hospital with multiple wounds with the condition of three of them was stated to be serious.

“The attack continued for about an hour with the militants firing randomly at people who came in their way in a belt of about two to three kilometres,” the official said.

There are at least four women among those killed.

The immediate provocation for the attack was not immediately known, although a police official said the NDFB had recently served extortion demands to businesspeople in the area.

“The extortion demands were not met by the locals and the attack could be in retaliation to that,” the police official said requesting not to be named.

The NDFB is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam.

A faction of the NDFB is operating a ceasefire with New Delhi, although another group led by guerrilla leader D.R. Nabla is still underground.

The NDFB is blamed for the Oct 30 serial blasts in Assam that killed about 100 people.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.