Assam violence: Rajnath Singh orders NIA probe into Bodo attack as death toll rises to 78

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While 37 people were killed in Sonitpur, another 25 were killed in Kokrajhar. Five Bodos, two in Sonitpur and three in Chirang, were killed in retaliatory attacks by some Adivasi miscreants, reports said.

Dozens of houses belonging to both Bodo and Adivasi communities were set on fire in Phulbari-Sonajuli this morning. The mobs also looted belongings of people who had fled their homes after yesterday’s killings. They took away cattle, pigs and poultry from abandoned homesteads belonging to both communities in Phulbari-Sonajuli.

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In Delhi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting attended by top officials of the home, defence ministries and paramilitary forces. “This was an act of terror and we will deal with it accordingly… whatever action is required, we will take,” Singh told reporters after the meeting.

He said 50 companies of paramilitary forces have been rushed to Assam. The Centre and state government have decided to launch an all-out offensive against NDFB militants.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi termed the killings as “senseless”, and asserted that the government would not bow down to any pressure exerted by those wielding the gun. “This is a most heinous, cowardly and most barbaric act. The government will never surrender to any pressure exerted by terrorists who train their guns on innocent people,” he said.

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Addressing a press conference, Gogoi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singh had assured full assistance to the state government to deal with the situation. Gogoi said both the Centre and the state government would deal firmly with the situation and take stern action against the NDFB (S). He underlined the need to counter the NDFB (S) threat in a coordinated manner. The outfit, he said, has its camps in Myanmar and flees to the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan after carrying out killings.

Denying any intelligence failure, Gogoi said Singh would arrive to assess the situation. “This is not the time to find faults, but to tackle the situation,” he said. Gogoi also appealed to the electronic media to observe restraint in airing images of violence.

Assam DGP Khagen Sarma said the NDFB(S) had indulged in “senseless” killings in retaliation, as security forces had killed several of its cadres in the past few weeks. “Security forces have neutralised several of their cadres, some of them very important, in the past few weeks. We had some intelligence inputs, but did not expect it to be on such a scale,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)