GUWAHATI, Aug 13: India said on Sunday it was suspending anti-insurgency operations in northeastern Assam state for 10 days despite a week-long wave of bombings that has left 10 dead and wounded 50 more.

“All anti-insurgency operations in the state have been suspended with immediate effect for a period of 10 days as a goodwill gesture from the Indian government,” S. Kabilan, the state’s top bureaucrat, told AFP.

Police however would continue to maintain law and order, he added.

India’s northeast is home to more than 30 rebel separatist groups with demands ranging from greater autonomy to complete secession.

More than 50,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives to insurgency in the northeast since 1947.

The dominant rebel group in Assam is the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which has been fighting for an independent homeland since 1979.

The ULFA is engaged in talks with New Delhi through intermediaries — collectively called the People Consultative Group — comprising authors, lawyers and other professionals from Assam.

The 11 intermediaries were named by the group last October to begin exploratory talks with New Delhi.

Assamese writer Indira Goswami, who heads the People’s Consultative Group, welcomed the suspension of anti-insurgency operations by the army.

“We welcome this move. It is a good beginning and we hope this suspension of operations would be further extended until such time when the militant leadership and the government hold direct peace talks,” Goswami said.—AFP