31 killed in ULFA shootings in Asom

Guwahati, Jan 6 (UNI) In a return to the terror days, the banned ULFA killed 31 people, mostly Hindi-speaking, in various parts of Asom overnight.

Official sources today said ULFA triggered a series of coordinated blasts and shootings since last night and fatally shot 21 people in eastern Asom.

Reports stated that ten people were gunned down in other incidents.

While 13 people were killed in Tinsukia district, another eight were done to death in Dibrugarh district. The toll in another shooting at Sadiya in Dibrugarh district was yet to be officially confirmed with the local MLA putting the figure at ten.

The official figures were released by government spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma to reporters here today.

In shootings in three places in tea-growing district of Tinsukia, eight people were killed in Longsuala and one each in Daimalu and Bandarghati.

Three others were killed in a blast at Digholterong of the district.

Mr Sharma confirmed that eight people were gunned down in separate incidents in Dibrugarh district. Quoting the Sadiya MLA, he informed that at least ten people were killed in Sadiya under Dibrugarh district.

In successive attacks, ULFA carried out indiscriminate shootings starting at about 1600 hrs and continuing late into the night.

The targeted people were mostly Hindi-speaking, who have a considerable presence in the affected districts.

Last night's killings bore close resemblance to similar ULFA attacks on Hindi-speaking population in 2003. The outfit had issued a statement last month warning these people to leave the state.

It had gone on to state that 'infiltration from mainland India' was posing a greater threat to Asom than 'infiltration from across the border'.

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