The Hindu : Front Page : Two more killed in fresh ULFA attack

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 08, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Two more killed in fresh ULFA attack

Sushanta Talukdar

Thousands of Hindi-speaking persons defy curfew, stage demonstrations

Guwahati: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Sunday launched a fresh attack on Biharis in upper Assam's Dibrugarh district killing two persons and injuring two others. The attack comes even as thousands of Bihari and other Hindi speaking people staged angry protests with bodies of victims of Friday's massacre, on National Highways in the curfew-clamped Tinsukia sub-division of adjacent Tinsukia district.

Sunday's attack at Sepon came a couple of hours after a high-level Central team led by Union Minister of State Sriprakash Jaiswal visited the trouble-torn districts around 6 p.m.

In another incident a Bihari was killed at Kachugaon in Kokrajhar district. Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) D.K. Pathak said the second incident was not related to the ULFA serial attacks.

With Sunday's incident, the death toll in the ULFA attacks on Bihari people in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Dhemaji has gone up to 48. The militant outfit also gunned down a Congress leader in Tinsukia district.

Indefinite curfew was clamped in Tinsukia sub-division after Friday's massacre sparked off angry protests. At Longsowal, the protestors refused to cremate the bodies of 12 victims till their demand for handing over of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts to the Army was met. They also refused to meet State Planning and Development Minister Prtihibi Majhi and Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi. Mr. Jaiswal tried to pacify the protesters by assuring them that the Government would take all possible measures to ensure their safety and security and prevent recurrence of such attacks.

However, the protestors insisted that the Union Minister make an announcement of handing over of the two districts to the Army.

Mr. Pathak, who has been camping in the district along with State Director-General of Police R.N. Mathur, told The Hindu that following the visit of the Union Minister the protesters decided to cremate the bodies.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page