“One of them has been killed“.
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The situation in Assam’s Kokrajhar town, where 13 civilians were killed in a terror attack on Friday, is being monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is Bodo tribal dominated area. One terrorist has been neutralised. The others escaped, forcing security forces to launch a major operation to hunt them down.
He blamed the raid on the so-called National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) militant group.
Assam’s recently elected Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal condemned the killings and promised strong action.
Hitting out at the NDFB (S), he said that the terrorist organisation was known for killing civilians in isolated areas, adding that the complete neutralisation of the group would be a huge relief for the state.
Police have so far recovered 13 bodies and search operations are continuing in the area as the militants are suspected to be hiding in nearby buildings. “We are also probing lapses on the part of security forces”, DGP Mukesh Sahay told DH. He put the number of attackers at four or five. The slain militant who had lobbed a grenade before opening indiscriminate firing was identified as Anjoy Islary alias Monjoy and he was the self-styled commanding officer of the NDFB (S), Sarma said. This led to a major crackdown against the NDFB’s “anti-talk faction”.
The attack came despite high security measures that have been adopted in Assam ahead of Independence Day celebrations to be held on August 15. An NIA team has reached the spot and was speaking to eyewitnesses, officials said.
Dozens of rebel groups have been fighting the government and sometimes each other for years in seven states in northeast India. Sonowal said, “Our government will take stern action against these extremist outfits”. He said: “No one involved in the crime will be spared”. HE said the government had made a decision to give an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the family of each person killed.
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The state administration has made arrangements to shift those critically wounded in the attack to Guwahati Medical College Hospital for a better treatment.
