Kuki militants kill 25 in Assam

Even as the first two incidents were reported to the police by around 8 am today, the militants, suspected to be of the same group, moved to village Jariteron, close to the district town of Diphu around noon and killed five more persons.

Assam Minister of State for Home Rockybul Hussain and the IGP (Law and Order) have rushed to the hill district from Guwahati. While the first two villages are said to be not connected by motorable roads, the village that was attacked on broad daylight is situated about only 15 km from the district headquarters, police said here.

The two autonomous hill districts of Assam, Karbi Anglong and North Cachar, have been witnessing sporadic internecine clashes for the past one year, with the Kuki group that had entered the state from Manipur regularly targeting the original tribes of the two districts, the Karbis and the Dimasas.

Interestingly, not a single woman or child was killed in any of the three incidents. Assam Police officials said the heavily armed militants either called out or dragged out only the male members of the village from their houses, made them line up in the open and then attacked them with sharp weapons or opened fire on them.

It was only on Friday last week that armed militants belonging to the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) had gunned down six Kuki tribals at a remote village called Thangbong, about 45 km from Diphu. Police suspect that today’s killings were in retaliation to Friday’s attack. The UPDS is an armed group comprising militants belonging to the Karbi tribe.