At least two Assam police personnel were killed and five others injured when suspected Black Widow militants attacked a picket of the Assam police battalion at Mahur in the North Cachar Hill district of Assam at around 4:15 am on Tuesday.

The police said the picket of the 8th Assam Police Battalion was stationed at the worksite office of a private construction firm, Bharatiya Construction Corporation, which has been contracted by Indian Railways in its gauge conversion project in part of the hill district.

A group of heavily armed militants suspected to be from the Black Widow group or the anti-talk faction of the Dima Halam Daogah, which is now engaged in the peace process with the Government of India, is suspected to have carried out the attack.

Assam police battalion personnel and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the insurgency-ravaged North Cachar Hill district to provide protection to construction workers and contractors engaged in the project in response to request from the construction companies which are targeted by the insurgents for extortion.

The mega gauge conversion project of the railways has been running far behind schedule because of the lurking threat from militants.

The Black Widow militants, who are opposed to the ongoing peace process in the hill district, have virtually derailed the peace process in the area that has been reeling under its extortion drives and violent attacks.