The Hindu : Front Page : Another ULFA attack kills three

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Tuesday, Jan 09, 2007
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Another ULFA attack kills three

Sushanta Talukdar

Death toll in attacks 62; Bihari workers flee Assam; curfew in Dibrugarh

CALL FOR PEACE: People take part in an all-party peace rally in Guwahati on Monday against the ongoing killings of Hindi-speaking people in parts of Assam. - PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Guwahati: Militants of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Monday gunned down three more Biharis — two at Barpathar in upper Assam's Golaghat district and one at Duliajan in Dibrugarh district. With this, the death toll in the ULFA attacks on Hindi-speaking workers since Friday has gone up to 62.

The outfit also struck in the city; Two improvised explosive devices went off in the Satgaon area on Monday night, injuring eight Hindi and Bengali-speaking persons. One blast occurred close the Narengi Army base camp.

Meanwhile, hundreds of panic-stricken Bihari migrant workers fled the State following fresh strikes. The Northeast Frontier Railways has recorded a huge cancellation of tickets from the region.

An indefinite curfew was clamped in Dibrugarh town around 1 p.m. on Monday. In the worst-hit Tinsukia district, curfew is already in force.

Government spokesman and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma said two militants, suspected to have been involved in one of the massacres in Dibrugarh district, were killed in an encounter with security forces at Sivasagar on Sunday night.

Confirming reports of the exodus, Dr. Sharma told reporters that about 100 migrant Bihari workers, who had come to the State about a month ago to work on the Bogibeel project of the N.F. Railway, fled Dibrugarh district.

The Government instructed all districts to group brick kiln workers, escort them to work sites and bring them back to the designated locations before sunset. However, this measure failed to stem the exodus of the workers to Bihar.

Lalu visits State

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Monday visited Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts to assess the situation and met the families of the victims. He visited the injured in the Assam Medical College and Hospital at Dibrugarh.

The bodies of 13 victims, kept by the protesters to block the National Highway for two consecutive days defying curfew, were cremated on Monday.

Mr. Prasad said he would urge the Centre to provide assistance to intensify combing operations in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts. He said the killings were purely the handiwork of the ULFA militants, and the local Assamese were in no way involved.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony will visit the State on Tuesday to review counter-insurgency operations.

The All-Assam Students' Union and the Purbottar Hindustani Samaj — a banner organisation of 56 associations of Hindi-speaking communities — appealed to Biharis and other Hindi-speaking people not to leave the State and assured them that the entire Assamese society was solidly behind them.

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