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Assam: 4 Hindi-speaking persons killed
By K Anurag in Guwahati
August 12, 2007

Karbi Longri North Cachar Hill Liberation Front militants, who have converted the Karbi Anglong hill district of Assam into a virtual killing field, shot dead four more Hindi-speaking persons from two families under Bokajan police station areas in pre-dawn hours on Sunday.

With this, the outfit has so far slain 27 Hindi-speaking persons including women and children in three separate incidents in the hill district since the night of August 8.

Police said a group of KLNLF militants took six persons from two Hindi-speaking families living in Upper Dehari village from their house at gun point at the dead of night to the riverbank near Rongbonghat before opening fire on them killing four on the spot and injuring two others.

The slain persons were identified as Mohan Kanu (35) and his wife Sheela Gupta (30), Nandalal Sharma (20) and Mahabir Sharma (22). Both families had small trading businesses in the area.

The injured were identified as Ram Swami (30) and Kanu Swami (25). They were admitted to Bokakhat government hospital in neighbouring Golaghat district. The incident occurred a few kilometers away from Dolomara Rang Teron village where militants mowed down 14 Hindi-speaking people on Friday night.

Meanwhile, three companies of additional paramilitary force personnel were sent to violence-hit Karbi Anglong for deployment. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi reviewed the law and situation in the district on Saturday.

The KLNLF, which is a breakaway faction of the Karbi militant group United People's Democratic Solidarity, has let loose a reign of terror in the hill district. Besides killings, the outfit has been engaged in rampant extortion.

The KLNLF was floated by a section of the UPDS who are opposed to the ongoing four-year-old peace process involving the UPDS and the government of India.

The UPDS demands a separate homeland for the Karbi tribe in Assam and entered into a truce with the government of India over three and a half years back.

K Anurag in Guwahati
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