Security stepped up along Assam border

The Director General (DG) of armed border force B.D. Sharma said here that they will cooperate with army and police in an offensive against a tribal militant group that had shot dead at least 80 people in Assam this week.

India has also sought help from Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh in an offensive against the militant group. Police believe that a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), fighting for a separate state for ethnic Bodos, was behind coordinated attacks on tea plantation workers and their families this week, the deadliest in years.

Some militants may have fled to neighbouring Bhutan while their leader was believed to be in Myanmar, officials and police said, prompting calls for cooperation.

Meanwhile, SSB DG B.D. Sharma said the problem was intense in the region due to open border.

"We will be cooperating in the operations undertaken by army of by Assam police as per information. I don't think I can speak more on this. We will be playing our duty of border guarding in a more stringent way. We have sent 20 more companies besides our deployment of nine battalions, and they have reported last evening," said Sharma.

Assam is one of the seven states that make home to more than 200 tribes and dozens of insurgencies, some seeking greater autonomy and others secession.

The region has trailed the rest of the country in economic development and the gap has widened in recent years, fuelling discontent. Residents accuse the central government of plundering the natural resources while ignoring development.

Some 7,000 villagers have fled their homes in Assam, fearing more attacks from the Bodo militants and are sheltered in relief camps guarded by the army and police.