July 31, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20,1423

GUWAHATI, July 30: At least eight people, including four soldiers and two rebels, were killed in two separate incidents in Assam on Tuesday, police said.

Tribal separatist guerillas killed four soldiers and two civilians in an ambush on a military patrol in the Bengtol area, close to the border with Bhutan.

Police said guerrillas of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) blew up the vehicle carrying the soldiers with a remote-controlled device killing four soliders and two civilians standing nearby.

Several people were wounded in the incident, police said.

The NDFB is fighting for an independent homeland for Bodo tribesmen, some 13 percent of Assam’s 26 million people. Some moderate Bodos are seeking more political autonomy accusing the government of ignoring their welfare.

In another incident police shot dead two separatist guerrillas from the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in a gunbattle at Boko on the outskirts of Guwahati city.

The ULFA is fighting for independence for tea and oil rich Assam, saying New Delhi is plundering its mineral resources.

India’s northeast, made up of seven states and home to about 200 ethnic and tribal groups, has been plagued by separatist and tribal insurgencies since India gained its independence from Britain.

The region is surrounded by China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar and linked to India by a narrow corridor through West Bengal.—Reuters