Tribal Rebels Kill 12 in Northeast India
Tribal separatists killed at least 12 Muslims in India's remote northeastern state of Assam on Friday, taking the toll to 23 following two days of deadly carnage, police said.
"Some 10 heavily armed militants went on a rampage, torching about 20 houses and killing at least 12 people," police inspector general S. N. Singh told Agence France Presse.
On Thursday night the rebels had killed 11 villagers in twin attacks in two districts of the restive state.
The attacks prompted security forces to launch a massive hunt for the guerrillas.
An indefinite curfew has also been imposed in the violence-torn districts of Kokrajhar and Baksa, with shoot-at-sight orders given to police, Singh said.
India's Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde spoke to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi over phone, assuring him of every kind of help to deal with the situation.
The victims of the attacks were Muslim migrants who have been locked in staggered land disputes with indigenous Bodo tribes in the tea-growing state that borders Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The attacks come as India votes in a multi-phased general election that began on April 7. Polling winds up on May 12, with results to be announced four days later.
Voting in Assam has ended, with April 24 the last day of polling.
Source: Agence France Presse
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