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| Sunday, 22 June 2003 |
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Nine tribal separatists killed in India's northeast GUWAHATI, India, Saturday,(AFP) At least nine tribal separatists were killed by troops in India's northeastern state of Assam where rebels set off an explosion under a freight train, officials said Saturday. An army spokesman said troops shot dead seven militants of the outlawed Hmar People's Convention (HPC) Friday in the Cachar district, 350 kilometres (217 miles) southeast of the state capital Guwahati. "The HPC rebels numbering about 10 were holed up inside a fortified bunker when our troops launched a raid on their hideout, killing seven militants," the army official said. A large quantity of arms and ammunition, including AK-47 assault rifles, were recovered from the dead militants, he said. The HPC is a rag-tag militant group fighting for greater autonomy for the Hmar tribe living in parts of southern Assam and adjoining Mizoram state. It is engaged in a violent turf war with a militant group of the rival Dimasa tribe, the Dima Haolam Daoga. At least 60 people have been killed in ethnic clashes between the Hmar and Dimasa communities in southern Assam during the past two months. "The HPC rebels were planning a major strike on the Dimasa community when our columns attacked their camp," the official said. In another incident, army soldiers killed two militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in western Assam, close to the border with Bhutan, late Friday, the official said. |
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