Guwahati: At least 14 people, including two women, were killed and 15 seriously injured after suspected Bodo militants opened fire at a village market in Kokrajhar district, about 200 km west of Guwahati, on Friday afternoon. This was the first major attack by any rebel group in Assam since the BJP-led government of Sarbananda Sonowal took charge on May 24.
Police said that two militants reached the market in Balajan Tiniali on an autorickshaw at around 12.30 pm and fired from two automatic weapons, killing 12 people on the spot. One militant also lobbed a grenade, which injured several people and set some stalls on fire. Security forces gunned down one of the militants soon after the attack while the other is believed to have escaped.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay said that there were enough indications to suspect the involvement of the I K Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland — NDFB(S).
Bodoland IGP L R Bishnoi said that police recovered an AK-56, 49 live rounds of AK ammunition, two magazines and a mobile phone from the militant who was shot dead while exchanging gunfire with security personnel.
“His mobile phone shows he had conducted several conversations with some senior leader of the NDFB(S) since Thursday evening. It is a bit surprising that the NDFB(S) has deviated from its usual pattern of targeting a particular community at one time. But there is no doubt that this was their handiwork, the dead cadre is proof,” said Bishnoi.
The NDFB(S) is known for targeting Adivasis or migrant Muslims but the victims of Friday’s attack also included Bodo tribals, Assamese and Bengalis. Six of the 14 killed have been identified as Salam Ali Mandal, Danda Basumatary, Maniram Basumatary, Tapan Chakrabarty, Parameswar Nath and Magar Ali. The two women killed in the attack are yet to be identified.
Disclosing details of the attack, Bishnoi said that the two militants boarded a “share autorickshaw” from two separate locations near Simborgaon in Kokrajhar and travelled with at least four other passengers to reach the market.
He added that while one of the two boarded the autorickshaw (AS-16C-6540) at Simborgaon, the other got in about half a kilometre later. There were four other passengers in the autorickshaw, all heading to the weekly market at Balajan Tiniali, about 12 km north of Kokrajhar.
“The other passengers did not notice the two AK-series weapons the duo was carrying, because they had hidden them under some cloth. The two also pretended that they did not know each other,” Bishnoi said.
“But just as the autorickshaw reached the market, the two jumped out and started firing. The other four passengers fled and so did the autorickshaw driver,” he said.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was in New Delhi, described the attack as “cowardly and dastardly”, and warned of stern action against the militants. “We will not tolerate any threat from any group. The government will not bow to any pressure while tackling terrorist groups,” he said in an official statement. Sonowal also asked the DCs and SPs of all districts in the state to remain on high alert.
Senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma have rushed to Kokrajhar to take stock of the situation.
The last major attack undertaken by the NDFB(S) — a breakaway faction led by I K Songbijit who has refused to be a part of peace talks — was in December 2014 when it killed 76 people, mostly Santhals and other Adivasi settlers, in Sonitpur, Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.
Bishnoi said that the attack could be the result of rising frustration within the NDFB(S) after security forces apprehended 27 of its cadres and killed five since the BJP-led government took charge. “They might have done this out of frustration or to prove that they are still strong and capable of striking in a big way, or both,” he said.