Assam violence: Locals in Salbari refuse to bury the dead

Demanding that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visit their area, people of Salbari in Assam's violence-hit Baksa district on Sunday refused to bury their kin killed in attacks by National Democratic Front of Bodoland-S militants.

Angry protestors in the Nankekhadrabari area on Sunday said they will not perform the last rites of the bodies of the 18 people, including children and women, till Gogoi comes and personally assures to provide security to their lives and property.

"Does our life have no value? We are only demanding that we are protected and we are not attacked and killed in the future," they told reporters.

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"The district administration instead of providing violence-hit people security and protection, is now threatening to arrest us if we do not perform janaja (last rites) of our dead", they alleged.

There is no immediate word from official sources about the chief minister visiting the area.

Heavily armed NDFB-S militants had gunned down 18 persons on Friday night and torched over 100 houses since the militant outfit started its mayhem against a minority community in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts's twin districts of Baksa and Kokrajhar from May 1.

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Altogether 32 people were killed in the violence, several others injured and thousands rendered homeless in the two districts.

Meanwhile, indefinite curfew imposed in neighbouring Chirang district of the BTAD since Friday night was relaxed for six hours from 10 am on Sunday, the district administration said.

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