GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Tribal separatists killed at least 33 people, including women, in India's northeastern state of Assam on Tuesday, police said, in a surge of violence linked to an ongoing crackdown on them.
Assam has a history of sectarian bloodshed and armed groups fighting for greater autonomy or secession from India.
Police suspect militants of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were behind four attacks that took place on Tuesday within the space of an hour. The group is fighting for a separate homeland for indigenous Bodo tribesmen, saying that the tea-growing state has been flooded with outsiders.
Rebels shot dead 21 people in one village in Sonitpur district, a police officer said. The other attacks were carried out in the districts of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon. The officer said more details were awaited from the remote areas where the attacks took place.
Indian security forces launched a campaign last month to flush out the rebels from their hideouts a month ago, prompting a threat from them to kill outsiders.
None of those killed on Tuesday were members of local tribes, the officer said.
(Reporting by Biswajyoti Das; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani/Mark Heinrich)
