India: National Democratic Front of Bodoland rebels killed serveral people in Assam
A day after they shot dead five Hindi-speaking bus passengers in Kokrajhar district, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) rebels attacked Muslim villagers, killing one of them and injuring four others in the Panbari area of neigbouring Chirang district on Saturday evening.
Around the same time, a group of assailants killed Bishom Sharma, a Hindi-speaking barber, near his salon at Harisinga in Udalguri district. Police suspect the killers could be from the same militant outfit. Kokrajhar, Chirang and Udalguri districts are Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts.
Police identified the villager killed in Chirang as Imran Ali. “Friday’s killings were carried out by NDFB (Songbijit). But we cannot immediately say who killed the barber in Udalguri,” additional director general (law and order) AP Rout told TOI. He added that security forces have been deployed along National Highway 31 after Friday’s killing of five travellers from Bihar’s Siwan and Chapra districts. The victims were going to Banderdewa in Arunachal Pradesh from Siliguri in search of work at construction sites. Three other people from Bihar, who were on the same bus, were also injured in the attack.