Five Hindi-speaking bus passengers were killed and three others injured in a dastardly attack by suspected terrorists belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) on the national highway in Kokrajhar district in western Assam late on Friday night.
A self-styled commander of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, who was allegedly involved in the killing of an agriculture department engineer, was shot dead in an encounter with security forces at Nayakgaon village in lower Assam's Kokrajhar district.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
A direct contest between nominees of the BJP-led NDA and Congress-headed Grand Alliance is on the cards in 20 constituencies
'But will there be matching action as far as tribals are concerned on the ground?'
The toll rose to 78 on Thursday in attacks by NDFB-S and retaliatory violence in lower Assam with Adivasis setting afire houses of Bodos as the backlash to Tuesday massacre continued for the second day.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited violence-displaced people lodged in three relief camps in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri to gauge the rehabilitation measures undertaken by the administration.
While the BPF and the UPPL are considered rivals in the Bodo-dominated areas, there was no pre-poll alliance among other parties as well.
India Meteorological Department officials said the quake shook Assam, including its capital Guwahati, Meghalaya, West Bengal and neighbouring Bhutan at 6.35 am.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met victims of ethnic violence in relief camps and held discussions with Bodoland Territorial Council leaders on the prevailing situation in Assam.
After a gap of nearly three months, suspected National Democratic Front of Bodoland anti-talk faction insurgents in Assam, have launched a series of attacks gunning down one woman and injuring three others in two separate incidents in Kokrajhar district taking the toll to three in the last three days.
Fresh violence gripped the trouble-torn Assam district of Kokrajhar leaving at least nine seriously injured while unrest spread to Kamrup (rural), which reported arson and police firing on Thursday.
Fresh violence gripped the trouble-torn Assam district of Kokrajhar leaving at least nine seriously injured while unrest spread to Kamrup (rural) which reported arson and police firing on Thursday.
Even as the Centre directed Bodoland Territorial Council Chief Executive Member Hagrama Mohilary and the president of the All India United Democratic Front Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi to "restrain their supporters and restore peace with immediate effect," the Ministry of Home Affairs Joint Secretary in charge of the North East Shambhu Singh is personally camping in the riot affected Kokrajhar district.
Six persons have been killed and 10 others injured in separate incidents of clashes in Kokrajhar district under Bodoland Territorial Council of Assam forcing the administration to impose indefinite curfew in Kokrajhar town and Section 144 CrPC in the entire district.
Bodoland Peoples' Front Member of Legislative Assembly Pradeep Brahma, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the recent violence in Assam, has been granted bail by the Gauhati high court.
The Gauhati high court on Thursday granted bail to Pradeep Brahma, Bodo People's Front MLA of Kokrajhar (West) constituency in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council area, who was arrested on August 22 on charges of inciting the mob during the recent flare-up in the region
Over 30 persons belonging to the Adivasi community were killed by the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) or NDFB-S militants at four places in Assam ob Tuesday evening.
Dhubri is the worst hit with over 8.72 lakh people affected, followed by Barpeta with more than 4.78 lakh people and Goalpara with around 4.28 lakh population.
Over 1,700 inmates have taken shelter in relief camps in trouble-torn Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam since on Thursday following tension in the wake of a Bodo member of Legislative Assembly's arrest.
Rediff.com takes a look at life inside a relief camp in Kokrajhar, which was the epicenter of the recent ethnic violence, which claimed 77 lives.
United Progress Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde arrived in violence-hit Assam to take a stock of the situation and meet displaced people in relief camps in Kokrajhar and Dhubri.
The toll in continuing violence in western Assam reached 25 on Tuesday after four persons were killed in police firing in Kokrajhar district, where shoot-at-sight orders and indefinite curfew remained in force.
Violence escalated in trouble-torn Kokrajhar district of Assam on Sunday with a senior DIG rank police official and three others injured in mob attack prompting police to fire in self-defence, while the death toll in the last two days' clash between Bodos and immigrants rose to 12.
In fresh incidents of violence, five persons were injured when miscreants attacked two families in two separate incidents in Kokrajhar district on Sunday even as the situation in violence-affected areas of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council in Assam continued to remain tense despite curfew remaining in force.
Four more bodies were recovered on Wednesday in lower Assam, which witnessed fresh incidents of violence, taking the toll to 77, police said.
At least three more persons were killed while two others injured as fresh violence erupted in strife-torn Kokrajhar district, taking the death toll in the to 64.
With improvement in the situation in strife-torn lower Assam areas where 56 people lost their lives, curfew was on Tuesday relaxed in Kokrajhar for two more hours, while night curfew continued in Chirang and Dhubri district.
The Assam riots at the Bodo-dominated Kokrajhar have resulted in 45 persons dead and about 2 lakh people displaced. Various reasons have been pointed out for these clashes, which range from illegal immigration and local issues. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Curfew was on Monday relaxed in violence-hit Baksa and Kokrajhar and neighbouring Chirang districts of Assam where 34 persons were killed in the mayhem unleashed by National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Songbijit militants since Thursday last.
Tribal activists killed a teenager and seriously injured two others and set their vehicle ablaze on Monday morning as the 36-hour Assam bandh called by the All Assam Advisai Students Association began.
Two days after all the doctors in the district civil hospital fled due to threats from insurgents, the Assam government on Monday shunted out Superintendent of Police in Kokrajhar district of western Assam, P K Dutta. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday admitted that the situation in Bodoland Territorial Council areas, where Kokrajhar district is located, was deteriorating. Doctors of Rup Nath Brahma Civil Hospital in the district fled.
The influential All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) took out cycle rallies from the North bank of Brahmaputra River between Kokrajhar district to the west and Dhemaji district to the East to press for their demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam.
At least eight personnel of the Border Security Force were killed and eight others injured in an ambush by the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland in Assam's Kokrajhar District on Monday evening. Militants of the Ranjan Daimary-led faction used automatic weapons to ambush the BSF convoy in remote Ultapani Forest area near the India-Bhutan border. The patrol was on its way from Bangladoba in Chirang District of Assam to Ultapani in Kokrajhar.
Currently, the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns, while the Barak at AP Ghat in Cachar and Badarpurghat in Karimganj are flowing above the danger mark.
Dipak Brahma, a resident of Dhantola Mandaria, a forest village in Kokrajhar district, had recently returned from Gujarat, where he worked as a labourer. He was jobless and finding it hard to support his family, according to an official of an NGO working against human trafficking.
Normalcy is returning to the violence-affected districts of Baksa and Kokrajhar under Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts Council areas in Assam. The state government claims that there has been no incident in the last 48 hours as the security apparatus along with army is working relentlessly to restore peace.
The abduction of a 50-year-old engineer in Kokrajhar district, western Assam, by suspected militants belonging to the anti-peace talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland has left the East-West Corridor project of the National Highway Authority of India in lurch.
Thirty-year-old Jagjit Saikia, a correspondent of popular Assamese daily Amar Asom was shot dead at Kokrajhar, the headquarter of Bodoland Autonomous District Council, in Western Assam at around 1345 hours on Saturday.
According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, one person was killed at Sissibargaon in Dhemaji district on Saturday.
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