By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Guwahati: As the year approached the end, yet another massacre triggered by the militants loyal to Songbijit faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) rocked the region.
At least 50 innocent people, including women and children belonging to Adivasi community, were killed when they were fired at indiscriminately by the militants in five places of the state on Tuesday evening.
(Photo courtesy: ZeeNews)
A dusk to dawn curfew has been imposed in three districts of Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) — Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa. Army has been put on standby, Lalit Gogoi, deputy commissioner of the worst-affected Sonitpur district.
The number of casualty might increase in due course of time, police said. Terror and trauma was still prevalent among the people as they witnessed their near and dear ones being killed from a close range.
“The militants clad in green came and asked us to come out of the houses immediately. Before we could react, they started firing at us. I have lost my brother as he was hit at the chest. I fell down after bullet hit me in the legs,” said a terrified victim in Sonitpur district’s Dhekiajuli.
The terrified villagers also told police the rebels came on foot, armed with assault rifles and wearing military uniforms.
Condemning the killing of the innocent people, Union Home Minister for State Kiren Rijiju said this is the reason why the northeast is not developed. “Killing the innocent people cannot bring any solution. Democracy cannot go with violence like this. This kind of violence is the main hindrance in the path of development,” Rijiju said in New Delhi on Wednesday before his departure to Assam.
In June, the NDFB militants had killed more than 40 Bengali-speaking people in Baksa district. In 2012, more than 100 people died and more than 4.5 lakh displaced from their homes following clashes between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims.
The state home department has recently declared the BTAD, comprising Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri districts, as an ethnically sensitive area. The region has seen over 588 kidnappings in three years. As many as 437 people have received extortion notes, mainly from the NDFB (Songbijit).
Meanwhile, organizations and people in general on Wednesday have come out of their houses to condemn and to protest the barbaric act of the militants across the state.