rediff.com: Former student leader killed in Assam: PTI

A former leader of the All Assam Students Union was killed, while a police-Central Reserve Police Force convoy was ambushed by militants in Assam on Monday, close on the heels of the killing of a Bodo litterateur and a legislator.

Former AASU leader Ranjit Bharali was gunned down by Bodo militants in front of his house at Ananda Bazaar in Barpeta district, official sources said.

The militants asked Bharali to come out of his house and shot him dead from close, sources said.

The AASU Barpeta district unit has condemned the incident and called for immediate measures to nab the militants.

In another incident on Monday, National Democratic Front of Bodoland ultras ambushed a police-CRPF joint convoy by detonating a remote-controlled improvised explosive device at Tipkai-Mahamaya road in Dhubri district.

The convoy were returning from the spot where NDFB ultras had shot dead five woodcutters when the blast occurred. No one was injured.

Security has been tightened throughout the state following the killing of Bodo Sahitya Sabha president Bineswar Brahma on Saturday and Bijni constituency legislator Mohini Basumatary on Monday.

The government has constituted a high-level enquiry to probe the killing of Basumatary and instructed the police to provide security to those under threat by militants.

Meanwhile, normal life was affected in Assam following a 12-hour bandh called by the Bodo Sahitya Sabha to protest against the killing of its president Bineswar Brahma, official sources said.

However, no incident was reported from any part of the state till reports last came in.

The bandh was near total in the Bodoland Autonomous Council area in lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Barpeta and Kamrup, while it evoked a mixed response in the capital city, the sources said.

Private vehicles and trucks remained off the roads and shops, business establishments as well as banks and educational institutions remained closed. However, air and train services were normal.

The bandh had little impact in upper Assam areas and none in south Assam's Barak valley, the sources said.

The Students Federation of India, All Bodo Students Union, Bodo Peoples Action Committee and the Bodo Women Justice Forum are supporting the bandh.


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