From what it seems like they targeted multiple areas, and while security was beefed up in Muslim pockets, they targeted tribal settlements.
At least 34 people have been killed, several of them women and children, when heavily armed NDFB(S) militants launched an almost simultaneous attack on Adivasi settlers in four locations spread in two districts, Kokrajhar and Sonitpur on Tuesday evening. The casualties are likely to rise.
Confirming this Assam DGP Khagen Sarma told The Indian Express that NDFB(S) militants attacked Adivasi settlers in four places, with the casualty reported to be highest in the Pabhoi reserved forest in Sonitpur district bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
“Preliminary reports reaching the police headquarters have put the death toll at 20, but the figure is definitely going to rise,” he said. The attacks, all believed to have been carried out with AK-series weapons, took place between 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM, he said.
The four places where the attacks took place are Pabhoi reserved forest and Batasipur (both in Sonitpur district) and Serfanguri and Ultapani (both in Kokrajhar district. The DGP said the casualties were highest in Simangpara, an Adivasi settlement north of Pabhoi reserved forest, which is a remote village close to the Arunachal Pradesh border. Reports meanwhile said two persons have died in Ultapani-Saralpara and three in Serfanguri.
The police had inputs about a likely attack by the NDFB(S) on innocent people select pockets as retaliation to the death of several of their cadres in the past 30 days, the DGP said. At least three militants were killed last week alone.
The police had intelligence inputs about a likely attack by the NDFB(S) in retaliation to the recent series of deaths of militants in the hands of security forces in the past couple of months. But while security measures were mostly beefed up in Muslim villages in vulnerable pockets, the NDFB(S) apparently targeted the Adivasis.
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Assam: Bodo militants kill 34 in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur | The Indian Express