Separatists attack passenger bus in Assam, abduct six

GUWAHATI - Militants of the outlawed tribal separatist group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) Monday attacked a passenger bus in Assam and abducted six people, police said.

Heavily armed NDFB militants fired at a passenger bus near Bhoimari village in Sonitpur district, about 250 km north of Guwahati, police said.

“The militants fired at the bus, forcing the driver to stop. They lined up all the passengers on the road and took away six of them at gunpoint,” a senior police official said.

There were about 25 people on board the local bus commuting between two villages in the area.

“We don’t know the whereabouts of the kidnapped,” the official said.

A massive hunt was launched to rescue the abducted passengers, he added.

“The militants were masked and were armed with automatic weapons,” the official said.

The incident comes hours after security forces gunned down a NDFB militant in the same district in an encounter.

The NDFB had Nov 1 threatened to kill 20 or more people for every one of their cadres killed by security personnel.

“From today onwards, if any innocent NDFB cadres were killed by Indian forces in the name of fake encounter, then the Bodoland Army (armed wing of the NDFB) would take action,” B. Jwngkhang, deputy chief of the Boroland Army, said in an emailed statement Nov 1.

“One innocent Bodo would be equal to 20 Indian or may be more and we don’t care who they are, maybe Indian civilian or Indian forces,” the mail added.

Security forces in the past three months killed at least 20 NDFB cadres, besides arresting more than 15 in separate raids, even as the tribal separatist group continued kidnapping people for money.

“And this (threat) would be anytime and any moment and we are ready to strike. Remember this warning and be serious before killing any innocent Bodo people,” the rebel statement warned the Assam government.