Independence Day Celebrated in Violence in Northeast India

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 16, 2003

Independence Day Celebrated in Violence in Northeast India

Rebels reportedly gunned down at least 36 people amid tight security just on the eve of India's independence day on Friday in the northeast states of Tripura and Manipur.

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Rebels reportedly gunned down at least 36 people amid tight security just on the eve of India's independence day on Friday in the northeast states of Tripura and Manipur.

Thirty people, mostly Bengali-speaking settlers, had been killed in three separate incidents since Thursday evening in Tripura, the Indian Express daily reported on Saturday.

It was the worst incident of militant violence in the last 25 years in the state with a population of 3.2 million, the majority of which speak Bengali and Kokborak.

Following an appeal for boycott of independence celebrations by over 15 different militant groups in the northeast states of Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam, security forces were on full alert.

During independence day celebrations, leaders in these states once again made a fervent appeal to the militants to come forward for a peaceful negotiated settlement of their grievances.

The worst violence took place in Totabari, a village in West Tripura district, where the rebels belonging to the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) killed seven people on the spot around 9:30 p.m.local time (1600 GMT) on Thursday while another seven died on their way to hospital, the Indian Express said.

Around the same time, the daily paper added, another group of the armed ATTF struck at village Baralunga, killing 12 people. Five more died later.

The ATTAF was on the 15 anti-government groups in the northeast which had called for a boycott of the independence day celebrations on the ground that "India was forcibly occupying" the region.

In Manipur, independence day celebrations were marred by violence as different militant groups start attacking civilians and security forces from Thursday morning, leaving at least eight people injured.

While six people were killed on the spot when militants triggered a powerful explosion as a bus was crossing a bridge in the state capital of Imphal on Thursday, two others were killed in incidents elsewhere, said the popular paper.

However, in the disputed Kashmir, people had a first violence-free independence day in 13 years though most of the residents preferred to stay indoors in fear of militant attacks.

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