Tribal guerrillas kill dozens in India’s Assam state

Tribal guerrillas have killed at least 50 people in a series of attacks in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, police say.

Police believe that the attacks were carried out by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) as retaliation for an offensive against them.

Indian security forces launched a campaign in November against the separatist rebels in their remote hideouts.  A joint team of Assam Police and the Indian army killed two Bodo fighters in the neighbouring Chiran district on Sunday.

At least 10 women and 13 children died in Tuesday’s attacks, the deadliest in Assamin months.  According to local reports, the attackers opened indiscriminate fire at Saralpara village in Kokrajhar district and in Santipur village of Sonitpur district. Villagers said that the rebels arrived at their villagers on foot, armed with assault rifles and wearing military uniforms.

Police Inspector-General SN Singh said that additional forces were being sent in to Assam to chase down the attackers and that villagers at risk would be evacuated to safer places.

Lalit Gogoi, deputy commissioner of the Sonitpur district, said the army has been put on standby and that a dusk to dawn curfew has been imposed.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi condemned the attacks, saying in a Twitter post, that the killings of innocent people were an "act of cowardice".

Assam is one of seven states in India's northeast, a region bounded by China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Residents have long accused the central government of plundering its natural resources and ignoring regional development. Modi has promised to accelerate the development of roads and railways in the region.

Some members of the Bodo community believe their identity, culture and language are under threat of being overrun and flooded by outsiders, and that the only way they can preserve it is through self-governance. The NDFB rebels say they are fighting for a separate homeland for the Bodo people.