Assam strike over rebel attacks

Assam students voice their protest

A general strike called by students in India's Assam state brought many areas of life to a standstill on Wednesday.

Shops remained closed and traffic on the roads was thin, officials said.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) called the strike to protest against the recent bombings by separatists in the state.

Eighteen people, mostly women and children, were killed in a bomb explosion in the town of Dhemaji during an Independence Day march on Sunday.

Police blamed the attack on one of Assam's eight separatist groups.

The United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) had called for a boycott of Independence Day events.

Activists of AASU, a powerful students group, held demonstrations in many places.

The student union says it is against the politics of terror and would resist it , regardless of whether it was engineered by the rebels or by the government secret agencies.

Correspondents say there were no apparent attempts by the police to break the day-long strike.

AASU spokesman Samujjal Bhattacharya told BBC that the state's chief minister should resign, owning moral responsibility for Sunday's explosion.

The separatist group Ulfa has not denied involvement in the explosions.

But it has blamed the government for allowing people to join the Independence Day celebrations when the group had threatened to disrupt the functions.

Assam police say they have arrested an Ulfa activist in connection with the bombing.

Rebels in Assam have been fighting for independence since 1979 in a struggle which has claimed more than 10,000 lives.