Fifteen killed in Assam violence

Fifteen persons, including six militants and a Congress leader and his family, were killed in Assam's troubled Karbi Anglong and N C Hills districts on Tuesday, where a goods train was also attacked and 20 houses burnt. Two suspected armed National Democratic Front of Bododland terrorists entered the house of the Congress leader, Apu Das at Diphu town in Karbi Anglong district around 7.45 pm and shot him dead along with wife Manju, daughter Moni, niece Juhi and a tutor Suma Roy, before escaping, Superintendent of Police, K K Sharma told PTI. A neighbour Anita Mazumdar was seriously injured, he said.

Stating the killings could be related to demands for extortion, Sharma said the attack would also have been in retaliation for the killing of six NDFB militants this morning at Donphat under Howrahghat police station of the district. At Donphat, six NDFB militants were killed in an encounter with the army's 13 Guard, defence sources said. Two others, however, escaped.

In the North Cachar Hills district, unidentified gunmen stopped a vehicle going from Maibong to Haflong at Nirimbanglo, forced out four passengers and shot them dead, official sources said. In the same district, insurgents fired on a goods train, going from Badurpur to Lumding, as it was emerging from a tunnel near Mahur, the sources said. Security personnel on board retaliated leading to a gunfight, but there were no casualties, they said.

Unidentified ultras set ablaze 12 houses at Photoningla, under Mahur police station, but none was injured. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition were seized from the NDFB militants killed in the encounter at Howraghat. Three 9 mm pistols, two grenades, a country-made carbine, 30 rounds of 9 mm pistol ammunition, ten rounds of AK47 ammunition, an AK47 magazine, 143 gelatin sticks, four detonators and 150 metres of fuse wire were seized.