Bodo extremists kill 23 Muslims in Kokrajhar, Baksa

GUWAHATI: Tribals of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland killed at least 23 Muslims, firing on victims as they slept in their homes in Assam’s Kokrajhar and Baksa districts in the wee hours of Friday.

The heavily armed NDFB(S) militants injured 14 critically in the communally-sensitive districts. Shoot-atsight was ordered on Friday night in the districts falling under Bodoland Territorial Administration Districts area, which bore the brunt of the violence, while indefinite curfew imposed in Chirang district, also under BTAD, as a precautionary measure, police sources said.

A group of 40 NDFB-Songbijit militants, armed with AK-47 rifles, swooped down on Balapara-I village in Kokrajhar district and fired indiscriminately after entering three houses, one after another killing seven persons on the spot, police said.

The body of a three-year-old child also killed in the attack was recovered from the area later this morning, police said, adding, 13 persons there were also seriously injured. Later in the night, 12 bullet-riddled bodies, including of five women and a child, were recovered from Nankekhadrabari and Nayanguri villages in Baksa district, police officials said.

At least 70 houses of Muslims were torched on the banks of Beki river near the Manas National Park in the district, IGP (Lawa and Order) S N Singh said. Friday’s attack followed the one by the militants last night when three members of a family, including two women, were shot dead and an infant seriously injured in neighbouring Baksa district last night. The militants carried out the crime after entering the house near Ananda Bazar area in Baksa district also within BTAD, the police said.

The army’s help has been sought to deal with the situation and troops were staging flag marches to instil confidence among the locals in the violence-affected places and to bring the situation under control, the Chief Minister’s office said in a statement.

On reports of thousands of people fleeing their homes to take shelter in neighbouring Dhubri, IGP LR Bishnoi said some people had crossed the river in panic but all of them returned to their villages.