| At least 22 people were killed by tribal separatists in India's northeastern state of Assam. A police spokesman said a security patrol Thursday evening recovered the bodies of the 22 people belonging to the Dimasa tribe from a thickly forested area called Natsul Pahar, in southern Assam's Cachar district, 410 kilometers from Guwahati. "The bodies were highly decomposed and bore bullet injuries. Most of them were shot from a close range with automatic weapons," a senior police official told IRNA by telephone. The victims, most of them peasants, were kidnapped by tribal rebels of the Hmar People's Convention (HPC) Monday from three villages in the district. "The killings appear to be a case of inter-tribal rivalry for territorial supremacy," the official said. "Six more Dimasa tribesmen kidnapped by the HPC along with the 22 killed were still missing." The HPC is a rag-tag militant group fighting for greater autonomy for the Hmar tribe living in parts of southern Assam and the adjoining Mizoram state. |