By IANS
Guwahati : Eight people were killed and four others were injured in an attack by tribal separatists in Assam, officials said Wednesday.
A police spokesman said heavily armed militants of the outlawed Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) late Tuesday attacked workers in a saw mill near the town of Umrangso in the North Cachar Hills district, about 270 km south of Assam’s main city Guwahati.
“The militants entered the saw mill and opened indiscriminate gunfire killing eight workers and wounding four others using automatic weapons,” a police official said.
The rebels later set ablaze a house of a local resident before escaping under the cover of darkness. The injured were shifted to a local hospital with multiple 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.
A rebel leader telephoned a local newspaper’s office late Tuesday and said: “We have killed 12 people in the area.”
A splinter faction of the DHD is currently holding a ceasefire with New Delhi and is engaged in peace talks.