Assam: Bodo militants gunned down at least 34 tribals and injured several others in orchestrated attacks across two districts of Assam on Tuesday evening, the police said. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at more than 50.
The attackers belonged to the anti-talks National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) faction, police officials said. All the victims were Adivasis, who along with migrant Muslims have been the target of sectarian violence in areas sought under the Bodo tribal rule.
According to Assam police spokesperson Rajib Saikia, 30 people – including 24 in one village named Moitalubasti – were killed in Sonitpur district while four died in Kokrajhar district. Of the victims, at least 13 were children and 10 women.
“The attacks could have been in retaliation to counter-insurgency operations leading to neutralisation of many rebels in the past 30 days,” Assam police chief Khagen Sarma said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attacks, tweeting that he had spoken to Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and home minister Rajnath Singh. “Rajnath ji will travel to Assam,” he wrote. Singh also confirmed on the microblogging site that paramilitary forces had been rushed to Assam.
The NDFB(S) pledged revenge after a combined team of the army and the police killed two of its top leaders near the India-Bhutan border on Sunday. On Monday, suspected rebels lobbed grenades in western Assam’s Chirang and Kokrajhar districts, injuring three people.
Gogoi, who asked six of his ministers to visit the militant-hit villages, termed the attacks on unarmed villagers cowardly. “The operations against them will continue,” he said.
District officials said the random strikes in remote areas made it difficult to assess the damage done by the militants. “There are bodies littered everywhere,” an army officer said from Sonitpur district.
Locals said NDFB(S) rebels had issued eviction notices to the villagers besides extorting them for months now.
Following the attacks, several Adivasi organisations called for a shutdown on Wednesday. Adivasis, categorized as ‘tea tribe’ in Assam, were brought by the British from central India to work as tea plantation workers more than 150 years ago.
