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Tribal rebels kill eight in the northeast

GUWAHATI (AFP) -- Separatist tribal rebels shot dead eight people and critically wounded five others Wednesday in the northeastern state of Assam, officials said.

A police spokesman said armed militants from the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland attacked Sukrumbari village in western Assam's Barpeta district, 180 km from the state capital Guwahati.

"The militants woke up sleeping villagers just before dawn on Wednesday and fired at them from close range," Barpeta Additional District Magistrate K N Sharma told AFP by telephone.

Six of the eight victims were identified as Assamese Muslims, while two were labourers from the eastern state of Bihar.

The NDFB has so far not claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The motive of the killing isn't very clear," Sharma said. "The village was a Bodo-dominated one with a few Muslim families around."

This is the fourth major attack by militants in Assam in the past fortnight.

Heavily armed gunmen on October 22 shot dead 16 people, and five days later 10 devotees were gunned down outside a temple.

On November 1, NDFB rebels attacked a police post and shot dead five paramilitary soldiers.

Opposition political parties in the state have demanded the imposition of presidential rule, saying the law and order situation has collapsed.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.

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