INDIA: "ULTRA" TERROR EXPLODES IN NORTHEAST
Gandhi Jayanti, the Oct. 2 holiday celebrating Mohandas Gandhi's birthday,
saw a string of coordinated terror attacks in India's isolated and
conflicted northeast, a resource-rich but impoverished region connected to
the rest of the country only by a narrow corridor between Bhutan and
Bangladesh. The attacks--five in the state of Assam and two in neighboring
Nagaland--left at least 50 dead, overwhelmingly civilians.
Both states are home to a profusion of ethnic-based guerilla armies which
oppose Indian rule in the region. Authorities blamed the Assam attacks on
Bodo ethnic guerillas, but refrained from assigning blame in the Nagaland
blasts. A ceasefire with Naga guerillas has been in place for over ten
years. Local press reports suggest "ultra" factions within the guerilla
forces are attempting to sabotage recent peace moves and plunge the entire
region into war.
At least 30 were killed and over 50 injured as twin explosions tore through
Nagaland's commercial hub of Dimapur. One of the explosions went off in the
railway station as hundreds of passengers were waiting for a delayed
morning train. The other blast occurred simultaneously at a nearby market,
where police later found a third device. The death toll is likely to go up,
with many of the injured battling for life in Dimapur hospitals. The toll
would have been much higher if the train hadn't been delayed, and if the
third blast had gone off, India's Statesman newspaper reported. India's Statesman newspaper reported.
Later in the day, presumed guerillas of the National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB) struck at various places in Assam, killing 21 and injuring
48, mostly civilians. Eleven were killed when gunmen opened fire on a
market in Dhubri, then fled into the jungle, India's Sify news service
reported.
The attacks came just days after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi offered a
ceasefire to both the NDFB and United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) if
the groups agreed to shun violence and come forward for talks. The ULFA was
accused in a bomb attack on an Indian Independence Day parade in the Assam
town of Dhemaji Aug. 15, that left 15 dead.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio warned that the attacks threatened the
ceasefire in his state. ''Such incidents would only vitiate the atmosphere
of peace in Nagaland,'' he said. But Indian Express said he ruled out the
involvement of any Naga group in the attacks. This was the first major
explosion in any public place in Nagaland in over a decade. Even during the
five decades of Naga insurgency, Nagaland had never witnessed such major
explosions. Naga rebel leaders have recently broached brokering talks to
extend the ceasefire to Assam.
(Indian Express, Oct. 3)
RESOURCES
South Asia Terrorism Portal (anti-terrorist think-tank) page on the NDFB
See also WW3 REPORT #102
(Bill Weinberg)
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Special to WORLD WAR 3 REPORT, Oct. 4, 2004
Reprinting permissible with attribution
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