Rebels kill nine railway workers in India's Assam state

New Delhi - At least nine railway workers were shot dead by tribal separatist rebels in two weekend attacks in India's north-eastern state of Assam, police said Monday.

Heavily armed militants from the banned Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) attacked a railway construction site in Fiding on Sunday and killed eight workers, senior police official Sudhakar Singh said.

Fiding, 350 kilometres south of the state's main city of Guwahati, is located in the North Cachar Hills district where the DHD group had given a deadline to stop work on the railway's broad gauge conversion project by Sunday.

"The DHG rebels came to the construction site and lined up the workers before firing on them indiscriminately. Eight workers were killed on the spot," local policeman, Dayamayi Singh said.

In another attack in the same district, DHD rebels shot dead a railway linesman on Saturday night, police said.

"No arrests have been made so far, but the DHD is suspected behind the attacks as it has been targeting railway projects," Sudhakar Singh said.

According to the local media, the militant group said the attacks were a retaliation for Indian Army operations on Saturday in which 12 of their cadres were killed.

The DHD is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the Dimasa tribe in the region.

India's north-east is a restive region where nearly 40 separatist, tribal or leftist groups are active in five states. More than 15,000 people have lost their lives to the insurgency in the region in the last decade. (dpa)

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