Suspected Ulfa (Independent) militants shot dead five people including three from a family in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district on Thursday evening. However, in a statement to DH, the outfit has denied its involvement in the attack. The statement was signed by a member of its publicity wing, Ronel Asom.
Those killed belonged to Hindu Bengali community. According to police, militants clad in clothes resembling Army uniform entered a village under Dhola police station around 7.30 pm and opened fire on a group of people who were sitting in front of a shop.
Security officials suspect that the Ulfa (Independent) could carry out the attack as it had warned of violence to protest NDA's Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The Ulfa group had carried out a blast in Guwahati on October 13 and warned that a similar attack would be carried out if the NDA government did not withdraw the bill immediately. Four persons were injured in the blast.
The bill, now pending with a Joint Parliamentary Committee, seeks to offer citizenship to Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had migrated to India due to 'religious persecution.' The Ulfa group and many other local civil society organisations are against the bill saying it would reduce the indigenous communities into minority and weaken them politically.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal instructed senior police officers to rush to the spot and assured strong action against those involved in the attack. All Assam Students Union said the state government should be held responsible for the violence as it did not take action against those including its MLAs who have been making 'communal statements' regarding the bill.
Tinsukia, bordering Arunachal Pradesh is a stronghold of the Ulfa group, whose cadres escape to their hideouts in Myanmar through the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh, after carrying out similar attack.
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