Dec. 1: Strife-torn Karbi Anglong witnessed more bloodshed today with militants suspected to be from the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) gunning down four Karbi villagers while they were praying in a church and torched 48 houses in Bokajan subdivision of the district. In Dibrugarh district, miscreants last night set ablaze nine shops belonging to members of the Bihari community.
The KRA struck in Bokajan subdivision of Karbi Anglong district for the second time in three days. The militant group killed six Karbis and torched nearly 116 houses in a pre-dawn swoop on Saturday.
The assailants, dressed in olive-green fatigues, simultaneously raided the Karbi-inhabited hamlets of Tensingh Teron, Kania Rongphar, Kanching Teron and Sikori Tikori around 10 am and targeted the houses there.
The four victims ? Mentisso, Samuel Rongpi, Bidya Singh Rongphar and Biren Fanchau ? were inside a church at Okkehi Ketok, near a stone quarry belonging to the Cement Corporation of India Ltd.
There was more violence around 6.45pm with suspected militants hurling a grenade at a pharmacy in Manja town. Two salesmen, identified as Ajai and Sanjay Rai, were injured.
A KRA member was reportedly killed in retaliatory fire by the rival United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), which has called a 120-hour Karbi Anglong bandh from tomorrow in protest against Clause 8 of the new Bodo accord.
Blaming Delhi and Dispur for the persecution of the ?indigenous tribals of the district? at the hands of the ?migrating Kuki rebels?, Autonomous State Demand Committee president Haliram Terang and Karbi Students Association chief Roland Kiling demanded a full-fledged offensive against the KRA militants holed up in the Singhasan Hills.
More bloodshed is likely because the KRA has been refusing to free the 13 UPDS members in its custody until the rival group releases the six Kuki villagers it abducted last month.
The UPDS deadline for the KRA to release the 13 Karbis expires tomorrow. The Karbi group intends disrupt both train and road communication in Karbi Anglong and the adjacent North Cachar Hills from tomorrow and advised the people not to travel by either mode of transport. Supply of essential commodities to Nagaland, Manipur, Upper Assam and parts of Arunachal Pradesh will be hit if the UPDS manages to impose the bandh.
As Karbi Anglong reeled under the impact of the Karbi-Kuki conflict, Dibrugarh district witnessed a fresh outbreak of violence on the Bihari community. There was no casualty, but nine Bihari traders settled in Lahowal lost their shops. Night curfew was lifted in Chabua, Moran and Khowang, but remains in force in Tengakhat, Namrup, Duliajan and Tingkhong.
The Asom Bikash Mancha has organised a peace rally in Dibrugarh tomorrow. Culture icon Bhupen Hazarika, youth leaders and editors will attend the rally.