Eleven Muslim settlers killed in militant attacks in Assam

Suspected tribal rebels shot dead 11 Muslim settlers, including two women, in attacks in tea-growing Assam, where tension is running high in election time, officials said on Friday.

Police said they suspected the militants behind the overnight killings were members of the Bodo tribe, Reuters reported.

Within hours of the attacks, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi sought army and paramilitary help to contain the situation.

No efforts would be spared to arrest the perpetrators of the crime, he said.

Union Home Ministry in Delhi has assured all help to the State Government.

Bodo people have frequently clashed with Muslims, who, they say, have illegally entered from neighbouring Bangladesh and encroached on their ancestral lands in the hills.

"The authorities will take firm action against those involved in this crime," said state government spokesman Nilamoni Sen Deka.

Police reinforcements were sent to the two districts where the attacks took place. They have a history of sectarian violence.

Candidates in India's general election, including opposition front runner Narendra Modi, have contributed to anti-Bangladeshi feeling in Assam.

Modi last week said immigrants from Bangladesh in a nearby state should have their "bags packed" in case he came to power.

Election results are due on May 16.

In the first incident, the militants shot dead three members of a family, including two women, while wounding a baby, police said.

"The gunmen entered the house and shot them dead on the spot," a senior police officer in the state capital with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters.

In the second incident, eight people were killed by a group of guerrillas, he said.

Two years ago, 40 people were killed in clashes between Bodo people and Muslim settlers in the same district.

CM seeks army’s help

Hours after the incident, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi sought help of the army and paramilitary forces to contain the situation in the troubled areas.

He on Friday instructed police to deal firmly with the situation and take every step to nab those behind the gruesome killings.

The Chief Minister’s Office in a press release said Gogoi strongly condemned the incidents, terming them as cowardly acts by suspected militants of NDFB(S).

“The Government will do everything possible to frustrate the nefarious designs of the insurgents out to create terror and to apprehend them at the earliest,” the release quoted him as saying.

Earlier in the day, Gogoi reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting.

Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla, DGP Khagen Sarma, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Jishnu Barua, Commissioner and Secretary, Home, GD Tripathi, and ADGP (SB) Pallab Bhattacharyya were present.

Meanwhile, the Army has staged flag marches to instill confidence among the people and bring the situation under control.

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had also called up the Chief Minister on Friday morning.

Union Home Minister assured all help and support to the State Government to deal with the situation.

Shinde assured Gogoi that additional companies would be rushed to reinforce security in the violence-hit places in particular and BTAD in general.

The State Home Department has requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to deploy additional 10 companies of paramilitary forces in the affected areas of BTAD.