GUWAHATI, Nov 20: Separatist rebels warned of fresh attacks against immigrants in the northeast Indian state of Assam on Thursday after a killing and arson spree in which at least 30 people died.

Overnight, the rebels killed at least six immigrant settlers, and injured two others, as troops battled to end four days bloodshed.

The Indian army began restoring peace in parts of the state on Thursday, a senior police official said, after hundreds of homes belonging to settlers from neighbouring Bihar state had been torched across Assam since the violence erupted on Monday.

Thousands have fled their homes for the shelter of police stations across Assam. The violence was sparked by attacks on Assamese in Bihar last week.

“There have been no reports of fresh violence so far today and troops are dominating many parts of the state effectively,” Khagen Sharma, an inspector-general of police, told Reuters.

But the powerful United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), an outlawed rebel group fighting for an independent Assam nation, said in a statement the situation would deteriorate further if politicians and bureaucrats protected Biharis.

“There is no need to look after the interests of Biharis in Assam. Anyone trying to protect them will have to face the consequences,” said Paresh Barua, military chief of ULFA, which ordered the settlers to leave or be killed.

In their latest attacks, heavily armed rebels shot dead three Bihari settlers after dragging them from their homes on Wednesday night, a police spokesman said.—Reuters