GUWAHATI, Aug 15: Tribal rebels boycotting Friday’s national independence day celebrations killed 30 civilians in two separate attacks in northeastern India’s Tripura state, police said on Friday.

Heavily-armed militants attacked the village of Borolunga, 50km north-east of Tripura’s capital Agartala late Thursday, killing 15 people and injuring an unspecified number of others.

Around the same time in Daspara, 45km north-east of Agartala, militants killed another 15 people, the police said.

“All the victims belonged to the majority Bengali community,” Tripura’s counter-insurgency chief told AFP by telephone.