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Alert in NE after reports of rebel incursion

Indian troops were on maximum alert in Assam Saturday after reports that armed separatist rebels had sneaked in from bases in neighbouring Bhutan, official sources said.

Intelligence sources said about 100 militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom, equipped with AK-47 assault rifles and small weapons, had entered the state from southern Bhutan.

ULFA militants and those belonging to the National Democratic Front of Boroland, both fighting for independent homelands in Assam, have killed at least 30 people in the past one week.

On Friday, ULFA and NDFB guerrillas shot dead 14 persons, including three paramilitary troopers, in western Assam's Nalbari district.

On Sunday, ULFA militants in two separate attacks killed 16 people in eastern Assam.

"We are worried and definitely the situation is becoming alarming with the militants acting out of desperation," a top police official, who did not want to be identified, told AFP.

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said the militants were killing innocent people out of "frustration" as their colleagues are deserting them.

"The ULFA is now on the verge of collapse with some 2,000 of their cadres surrendering before authorities in the recent past. The killings are nothing but an attempt by the ULFA to make their presence felt," Mahanta said.

Opposition political parties in the state have expressed concern over developments.

"The situation warrants imposition of (direct federal rule) in Assam as the ruling state government have failed to protect the lives and properties of the common people," Assam Congress president Tarun Gogoi said.

"It is the militants' rule that reigns supreme in Assam with the state government failing to do anything."

More than 10,000 people have died over the last two decades as a result of the insurgency in Assam.

AFP

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