By IANS,
Guwahati : At least seven people, including five paramilitary troopers, were killed in an ambush by tribal separatists in Assam Monday, police said.
Heavily armed militants belonging to the outlawed Dima Haolam Daoga (DHD), popularly known as the Black Widow group, attacked a convoy of trucks carrying cement near Doyangmukh village in North Cachar Hills district, about 340 km from Assam’s main city Guwahati.
“The militants fired indiscriminately with automatic weapons from a hilltop and took the convoy by surprise. A security vehicle escorting the convoy bore the brunt of the attack in which five security personnel and two civilians were killed,” a police official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
The official said the militants later decamped with four AK 47 assault rifles and another weapon from the five dead troopers.
“A hunt has since been launched in the area to nab the militants,” the official said.
The Black Widow claimed responsibility for the attack with a rebel leader telephoning local journalists in the district.
The DHD is fighting for an independent homeland for the Dimasa tribe in southern Assam.