Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that he has spoken to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over the killing of five people by United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in Tinsukia.
ULFA terrorists had on Thursday attacked a village in Bishnoimukh village near Dhola-Sadiya bridge at around 8 pm and killed five persons, including three from a single family, after calling them out.
“I have talked to the CM (Sonowal) and asked him to investigate the matter. I have told him that strictest action should be taken and culprits should not be spared,” Singh told reporters on Friday.
Sonowal has condemned “the killing of innocent people” and conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved families.
But while condemning the attack and naming the five victims, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wondered if it was an “outcome of recent NRC development”.
“We strongly condemn the attack in Tinsukia and killing of Shyamlal Biswas, Ananta Biswas, Abhinash Biswas, Subodh Das. Is this the outcome of recent NRC development? We have no words to express our deep sorrow to grieving families. Perpetrators must be punished at earliest,” she said in a tweet.
The fifth victim in Tinsukia is Dhananjay Namashudra, she added in another tweet. All names were apparently of Bengali-speaking people.
Meanwhile a massive protest has broken out in Tinsukia. Women blocked Dhola-Tinsukia highway and burn tyres. The All Assam Bengali Youth Students Federation has called a 12-hour shutdown in the district today in protest.
Assam DGP Kuladhar Saikia and ministers Keshab Mahanta and Parimal Suklabaidya reached Tinsukia today to take stock of the situation and calm the tempers.
Read More: 5 shot dead by suspected ULFA terrorists in Assam; groups call 12-hr bandh, protest rallies
According to the police the gunmen were in battle fatigues, which ULFA terrorists usually don. While the ULFA has denied a role in the attack, reports say that the attack was carried out by Paresh Baruah faction of the terrorist group.
The Army has launched a massive counter-insurgency operation along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. The Assam Rifles is keeping a vigil on the porous Indo-Myanmar border.