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22 killed in Assam, bandh in Bongaigaon

The death dance continued in Assam as three more bodies were found on Friday taking the toll to 22 in the killing spree by militants since Thursday night.

The three bullet-ridden bodies, were found in separate places in Nalbari district, the police said.

The bodies were identified as those of Basanta Sarma, father of an United Liberation Front of Asom militant, Nripen Kalita, elder brother of an ULFA ultra, and Khogen Das.

The police were yet to identify the killers but claimed Sarma's son and Kalita's brother were involved in the recent massacres in which 18 non-Assamese people were killed.

Eighteen people belonging to non-Assamese communities were massacred in three separate places in Bongaigaon district by ULFA militants last night, official reports here said.

The ULFA ultras armed with sophisticated weapons first attacked a group of people, mostly drivers having dinner at a roadside hotel and mowed down eight of them.

In the second incident car-borne ULFA ultras gunned down five people at the Bishjora tea estate and Chitkagaon areas, while five others were killed by the militants at Lalmati.

An executive member of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council J M Basumatary was also shot dead by United Peoples Democratic Solidarity ultras in Diphu Thursday night.

Meanwhile, a bandh called in Bongaigaon district by the Asom Gana Parishad in protest against the massacres was "near total and spontaneous."

A massive combing operation by the army and security forces was on when the reports last came in. A number of arrests have been made in connection with the killings.

PTI

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