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GUWAHATI, Aug 27: One person was killed and seven others, including two policemen, were wounded on Saturday in a grenade attack by suspected rebels in India’s restive northeastern state of Assam, officials said.
A police spokesman said suspected militants belonging to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) lobbed two grenades at a police checkpost near Changsari, close to Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
“There was a mobile post on the highway where security personnel were checking vehicles entering Guwahati when the militants attacked with grenades,” Assam Inspector General of Police Khagen Sharma said.
Five civilians and two policemen suffered multiple injuries in the explosion. One of the injured civilians later succumbed to his injuries while two others were in critical condition.
The attack came as soldiers in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh state killed five ULFA rebels in an operation that began on Friday.
Police and intelligence officials say there are well-entrenched ULFA bases in four districts with an estimated strength of about 100 rebels, including women cadres.
SEX FILMS: Indian tribal separatists in the northeastern state of Tripura are forcing women to act in pornographic films which are sold to raise funds for their rebellion, officials said on Saturday.
Police said they learned about the films from surrendered rebels of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), a rebel group fighting for an independent tribal homeland in the state, bordering Bangladesh.
“During interrogation, we were told that rebel leaders forced several women cadres and some male recruits into acting in many pornographic films shot in the jungles,” a senior police official said.
Tripura Police Chief G. M. Srivastava said they had specific information about militants using tribal girls for sexual abuses.
“Many of the girls fled from the grip of the rebels and narrated to us their experiences,” Mr Srivastava said.
Police have seized several compact discs of films with explicit sex scenes featuring tribal women from Tripura.
The films are sold in various parts of India and other adjoining South Asian countries and the money used to buy arms and materials to support their guerilla campaign against Indian security forces.—AFP
