The Hindu : National : Militants kill 11 persons in Assam

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Militants kill 11 persons in Assam

Sushanta Talukdar

Driver saves many passengers before dying by reversing train into tunnel

— PHOTO: AFP

Terror in hills: Bodies lie near an ambushed truck in North Cachar Hills district, about 290 km south of Guwahati, on Thursday.

Guwahati: Suspected militant Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel faction) gunned down 11 persons, including a train driver and 10 truck drivers and helpers, in two attacks in southern Assam’s North Cachar Hills district on Thursday morning.

The underground outfit, also known as Black Widow, set ablaze five cement-laden trucks after killing the drivers and helpers.

Before he died, the train driver N.N. Bora saved the lives of a number of railway employees and security personnel by quickly reversing the Passenger Special train inside a tunnel as the militants sprayed bullets from a hilltop. Apart from the driver and the guard, there were 20 other railway engineering staff, an assistant engineer, a permanent way inspector and 10 RPSF personnel in the train.

The Northeast Frontier Railway cancelled trains passing through the district between Badarpur and Lumding following the incident.

In the second incident, which occurred around 6.45 a.m. at Kurmilangshu under Umrangshu police station, DHD (Jewel) militants stopped trucks laden with cement and bamboo and took away the drivers and the helpers to a nearby village and shot 10 of them from point blank range, the police said. The cement-laden trucks were coming from a factory of Vinay Cement Limited at Umrangshu.

With these incidents, the death toll in attacks by Black Widow militants since Saturday has gone up to 22. The N.C. Hills observed a bandh on Wednesday to protest killing of 11 persons, including 10 railway construction workers and a railway employee, in a series of attacks .

On Wednesday night, jawans of a police reserve battalion repulsed an attack on their camp at Kapurcherra area under Harangajao police station of the district by the DHD (Jewel) militants in battle fatigues, Chief Public Relations Officer of Assam Police said.

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