Assamese violence

The BBC report on yesterday's attacks in Assam states they were conducted by a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) who are trying to derail peace talks between the moderate NDFB faction and the Indian government.

The article opens by saying that:

Police told the BBC that a group of heavily armed guerrillas waylaid the bus and opened fire indiscriminately.

However, in an article in the Nagaland Post, it was reported that:

They [the guerillas] lined up the passengers and took away the Hindi-speaking people to the forest and shot them. “The NDFB fired at the bus, forcing the driver to stop, after which the militants lined up all the passengers on the road and took away at least 10 of them at gunpoint,” a senior police official said..

The report then reiterates that:

"All the dead were Hindi-speaking people hailing from Bihar and were Arunachal Pradesh government employees," Assam police chief Shankar Baruah told IANS.

The Nagaland Post's report actual makes more sense, given that the BBC also claims that:

Police say the rebels appear to be on a "revenge killing spree" after last week threatening to kill "at least 20 Indians" to avenge the death of their commander, Mohan Basumatary, in a clash last month.

If these were revenge attacks, and the militants had specific targets in mind, the initial report of indiscriminate shooting in the BBC article certainly needs some clarification.

I won't be travelling through Bodo regions. However, I will be going to Karbi Anglong, where a friend lives, and they have similar organisations / factions within organisation with similar goals of independence. Guwahati, where I am heading today, has also seen its fair share of violence over the past few years.

But I think the situation is slightly better in the metropolitan areas (compared to places like Mumbai) and I'll be with people who know the area too.