By IANS
Guwahati : At least three people were killed and four injured Tuesday in an ambush by tribal separatists in Assam, officials said.
A police spokesman said heavily armed militants of the outlawed Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) attacked a saw mill near the town of Umrangso in North Cachar Hills district, about 270 km south of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
The incident took place around 8.45 pm.
“The militants entered a saw mill and opened indiscriminate gunfire killing three workers and wounding four using automatic weapons,” a police official said by telephone.
The rebels later set ablaze two saw mills in the same area before escaping under the cover of darkness. The injured were brought to the government hospital with serious bullet injuries.
The Jewel Gorlosa faction of the DHD, popularly known as the Black Widow, a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the Dimasa tribe in the region, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We have killed 12 people in the area,” a rebel leader telephoned a local newspaper office late Tuesday.
A splinter faction of the DHD is currently operating a ceasefire with New Delhi and holding peace talks.