Three killed in Assam shootout

GUWAHATI - Three people, including two tribal separatists, were killed and three civilians wounded in a shootout by unidentified gunmen in Assam, officials said Sunday.

A police spokesperson said heavily armed masked gunmen late Saturday attacked a group of people at village Mukuldang in Kokrajhar district, about 220 km west of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

“The gunmen entered the village and opened indiscriminate firing on a group of people in which two NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) militants belonging to the ceasefire group and a daily wage earner were killed,” a police officer said.

Three other locals were injured in the attack.

“We are investigating into the incident and so far we have no clue,” the officer said.

The gunmen fled the area on motorcycles immediately after the attack.

The NDFB pro-talk faction have accused the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) of carrying out the attack.

“This is nothing but fratricidal attacks on our members by the ex-BLT,” B. Sudem, NDFB pro-talk leader, said.

The ex-BLT denied the charges.

A faction of the NDFB headed by Gobinda Basumatary entered into a ceasefire in 2005, while another group led by guerrilla leader Ranjan Daimary is waging a war for independence for the Bodo tribal people.

Fratricidal clashes between the NDFB and the ex-BLT have claimed more than 50 lives in the past two years in western Assam.