Strike against rebel violence in Assam

"Normal life has come to a standstill with no trains or vehicles plying the roads," a police spokesman said.

The strike was called by the Assam Yuva Parishad (AYP), the youth wing of the dominant party in the state’s four-member coalition government.

At least 35 people, including eight paramilitary troopers, have been killed in a string of attacks since October 22 by rebels from the United Liberation Front of Assam and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland.

More than a dozen people have been wounded.

"We have called the strike as a mark of protest against the perpetrators of violence. We want to demonstrate that the common people are opposed to all forms of killings and bloodshed," AYP spokesman Kartick Hazarika said. In the latest incident, 10 heavily armed Bodo militants raided a police station late Tuesday night in western Assam’s Dhubri district.

The tribal rebels shot dead five policemen and grabbed a large quantity of arms and ammunition.

Heavily armed gunmen shot dead 13 people, including three paramilitary soldiers, in western Assam’s Nalbari district last Friday. Another 17 were gunned down in the eastern districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh on October 22.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.