Heavily armed gunmen shot dead 16 villagers, including nine women and two children, in India's northeastern state of Assam.
The shootings took place at Udalgiri, about 150 kilometres from Dispur, Assam's capital. The village lies near the border with neighbouring Bhutan.
A group of about 20 to 25 militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) carrying automatic weapons raided an isolated village and opened fire, a police officer told Reuters.
The sixteen villagers, identified as settlers from the eastern state of Bihar, were shot dead after they were called out of their houses and ordered to line up, police said. The rebels also set about 20 houses on fire.
Last night's massacre in Assam was the second major attack carried out by NDFB rebels in less than a week against civilians in the state. Last Tuesday, the rebel group gunned down 13 villagers and wounded 18 near Bijni village in Assam.
The NDFB is fighting for an independent homeland for Bodo tribesmen who make up about 13 per cent of Assam's 26 million people.
- Elsewhere in eastern India, suspected guerrillas from the Maoist Communist Centre gunned down five people in Bihar's Gaya district, about 150 kilometres southeast of the state capital, Patna.
Reuters.