Assam militant group targets workers, railways hit

DRIVEN AWAY: The militant group has been targeting truckers and labourers.

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Keywords: Tribals , Black Widow

Guwahati: Two national projects and trains in Assam’s hill district of North Cachar have stopped after militants killed 22 labourers.

The Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa faction), also known as the Black Widow, has killed 22 people since May 10. Ten among the dead were truckers.

On May 11, it killed labourers constructing railway quarters. The rebel group says it is reacting to the army killing 12 of its cadres. An attack the militants claim violated a March 25 ceasefire declaration. The authorities say they never accepted the ceasefire.

"It must be understood there was no breaking of ceasefire, as there wasn't any ceasefire," says security analyst Jaideep Saikia.

The violence has affected work on the East West Corridor and broad gauge conversion of railway tracks. For the first time, railway services have been suspended. " Each month we were losing our employees. So on that situation we had to stop te train services on that section," says railways spokesperson Sameer Goswami.

The rail link between the Barak Valley and rest of the country remains cut off because of the violence. In the other hill district of Assam, Karbi Anglong, Hindi-speaking migrant labourers have started vacating their house...

Last year 30 migrant labourers were killed in Karbi Anglong. After the violence in North Cachar and threats from militant group KLNLF, migrant workers are in a rush to leave.

The Assam government is now contemplating to form a unified command of security forces to combat violence in the hill districts.