Suspected Bodo ultras kill 37 Adivasis in Assam

Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, December 23

Over 30 persons of the Adivasi community (37 according to the PTI) were allegedly killed by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) militants at four places in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts of Assam today.
The police said the killings took place in areas under the Serfanguri and Ultapani police stations in Kokrajhar district of western Assam and Biswanath Charilali and Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district of North Assam. The toll was stated to be 26 in Sonitpur and four in Kokrajhar.
Over 20 persons were killed alone in Moitalubasti area of Sonitpur, close to the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary.
The villagers were killed in the alleged firing by the NDFB-S militants, apparently to avenge the intensified operation against the militant group by security forces in Assam.
The toll is likely to go up as reports of more deaths were pouring in. Senior police officials and security personnel rushed to the violence-hit areas from respective district headquarters. The Army has been put on alert following the massacre.
CM Tarun Gogoi termed the killings “barbaric and dastardly” and deputed two teams of ministers to visit the violence-hit areas. Ministers Rakibul Hussain, Tanka Bahadur Rai and Prithbi Majhi were asked to visit Sonitpur, and Nilamoni Sen Deka, Basanta Das and Atuwa Munda were rushed to Kokrajhar.