Assam: Five Hindi-speaking bus passengers shot dead by terrorists

Five Hindi-speaking bus passengers were killed and three others injured in a dastardly attack by suspected terrorists belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) on the national highway in Kokrajhar district in western Assam late on Friday night.

The night bus was coming from Cooch Behar in West Bengal to Lakhipur in Assam when it was waylaid at Ramphalbeel under Serfanguri police station in Kokrajhar district by a group of suspected National Democratic Front of Bodoland-S militants at around 10 pm on Friday. The terrorists than called out eight selected passengers out of the bus and fired upon them from close range.

Four of the five Hindi-speaking people shot dead and three others critically injured by NDFB militants on Friday night in Assam's Kokrajhar district were identified.

The deceased hailing from Bihar are Papu Kumar Singh (25), Shamsher Mantri (20) and brothers Ahot Bihari (20) and Raj Bihari (19), police sources said.

The injured, also from Bihar admitted to Bongaingaon Civil Hospital, are Amol Gupta, Ramanand Ojah and Babulal Karmakar.

Senior police officials rushed to the spot from Kokrajhar and launched a combing operation in the area.

The incident occurred just few hours after the newly-appointed Director General of Assam police, Khagen Sarma, had warned of the design hatched by the NDFB-S terrorists to create trouble in the state by targeting vulnerable people.

Earlier in the day, a joint team of Army and police gunned down a NDFB-S terrorist at Moinaguri under Kachugaon police station in Kokrajhar district.

The security personnel had recovered one 7.65 mm pistol, one grenade, one magazine, four rounds of live ammunition, three empty shells, two mobile phones and a scooty sans registration plate.

With inputs from PTI