Suspected Rebels Kill 13 in Assam

In 2014, NDFB rebels killed at least 62 people in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar
Gunmen have opened fire on a busy market place in India’s north-eastern state of Assam, killing at least 13 people, officials say.
Police blamed the attacks on suspected rebels from a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Reports say one suspected rebel was killed in the gun battle with security forces in Kokrajhar district.
The NDFB wants an independent homeland for the Bodo ethnic group to be carved out of Assam.
Local police official LR Bishnoi told the Associated Press that six suspected rebels fired automatic weapons and lobbed grenades in the market in Balajan, an area just outside the town of Kokrajhar.
He said one gunman was killed by security forces and troops are pursuing five others who fled. Several homes and shops were damaged in the attack.
The Bodos now have an autonomous territorial council which one of their parties, the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), controls.
A number of rebel groups in Assam have been fighting the authorities, demanding autonomy or independent homelands for the indigenous groups they represent.