Assam attack: Rajnath asks Sushma to seek help from Bhutan and Myanmar

People, who have taken refuge at a church after their village was attacked by Bodo militants, offer Christmas prayers at Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur.India has sought help from neighbouring Bhutan and Myanmar in combating the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) following Tuesday's massacre of tribals in Assam by the banned outfit.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has requested External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to seek help from the neighbouring countries to crack down on the banned militant group that is believed to have set up a few bases in the dense forest along the Indo-Bhutan and the Indo-Myanmar border.

Some of these hideouts are also suspected to be set up across the border as the dense jungles provide a safe haven to their armed cadre.

Singh, accompanied by his deputy Kiren Rijiju, visited Assam on Wednesday evening and held a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and senior officials.

The home minister also said that the Indian government had received assurance of cooperation from Bhutan and Myanmar for flushing out terrorists from their territories.

Officials said that whenever security forces carry out offensives against the NDFB(S), their cadres sneak into Bhutan, making it difficult to track them down.

Click here to EnlargeIn 2003-04, Bhutan had carried out a massive operation against ULFA militants and completely wiped out their bases from that country. The ultra leadership had to leave the country after the Bhutanese Army gunned down a large number of the men.

On Tuesday, heavily armed militants belonging to NDFB(S) swooped down on remote adivasi (tribal) villages of three Assam districts, killing over 70 people, including 21 women and 18 children.

The aftermath

The bloodbath sparked retaliation in which Bodo homes were torched and a police station attacked, leaving three more tribals dead allegedly in police firing.

After touring the affected Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts, Singh announced that the National Investigation Agency would probe the NDFB(S) attacks and assured the Assam government of Army assistance, if necessary, in its crackdown on militant organisations.

He said: "We want to see the links of such groups. We want to know with whom they have connections. We cannot overlook it as a simple militant act. It is an act of terror. Both the central and the state governments will deal with it the way terrorism is dealt with."

However, violence in the state continued unabated for the third consecutive day after some adivasi villagers in Gossaigaon area of Kokrajhar set ablaze several Bodo houses this morning even though curfew has been imposed in the district.

Curfew has been also imposed in the affected areas of Sonitpur and Chirang districts along with parts of Dhubri and Baksa districts as a precautionary measure.

The toll has risen to 78 with the recovery of six more bodies on Thursday morning from Maitalu Basti of Sonitpur district.

Police firing on adivasis, who had blocked the national highway in Dhekiajuli, also resulted in three deaths.

In Kokrajhar district, retaliatory violence by adivasis claimed the lives of four Bodos in Manikpur and Dimapur areas.

Meanwhile, the three Union ministers on Thursday visited Biswanath Chariali in Sonitpur district to review the situation and also held talks with different political and social organisations.

Singh, however, did not visit the troubled spots. Instead, he met the adivasi representatives at the circuit house.

He said: "The killings are not an ordinary act of violence by a militant outfit, but an act of crafted terror and we will deal with it accordingly."He also ruled out any talks with the NDFB(S) militants, saying an all-out joint offensive by police, paramilitary forces and Army would be launched against the outfit.

(With inputs from Guwahati)

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