Six dead in Assam 'rebel attacks'

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta

At least six people have been killed and more than 30 injured in three separate attacks across India's north-eastern state of Assam.

Police said they suspected the rebel separatist group, the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa).

There was no immediate response from the group, which has been fighting for an Assamese homeland for 28 years.

At least 150 people have died in attacks since talks between Ulfa and the authorities broke down last year.

On Sunday, an explosion ripped through a busy market in Tinsukia in northern Assam, injuring 25 people, most of them Hindi-speaking migrants.

Three of the injured later died in hospital.

An hour later two suspected Ulfa rebels were killed when a bomb they were carrying on their motorcycle exploded near the town of Doomdooma. Six by-standers were injured.

Meanwhile, police said Ulfa rebels shot dead a former Ulfa member who had surrendered to the authorities in the northern town of Jurad.

'Regrouped'

The separatist group has been relatively quiet since losing some of its top field commanders and activists in military and police operations in the last two months.

Ulfa has been fighting Indian forces for more than two decades

Intelligence officials say the rebels have regrouped after the arrest earlier this month of Prabal Neog, who led Ulfa's main strike force, the 28th Battalion.

Ulfa began an armed rebellion against what it describes as colonial rule by Delhi in 1979. Thousands of people have died in the violence.

An effort to start peace talks between the rebels and the Indian government broke down last year.

The rebels are seeking a separate homeland for the Assamese people and demanding the departure of the non-indigenous population, particularly Hindi speakers.

The rebel group says migrants and settlers from India's heartland states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar threaten the indigenous people of Assam.