Chidambaram to review security strategy in Assam

GUWAHATI - Union Home Minister P.C. Chidambaram will be here Friday to review the security situation in Assam in view of stepped up attacks by tribal separatists, who have killed 24 people this week.

Chidambaram arrives around 2.45 p.m. and straightaway chairs a meeting of the Unified Command Headquarters at the Border Security Force (BSF) base camp at Patgaon on the outskirts of Assam’s main city Guwahati.

Top army and paramilitary commanders, senior police and civil officials, besides Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi would attend the meeting.

The meeting to be chaired by the home minister is expected to rework security strategies to counter the renewed threat posed by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a senior Assam government home department official told IANS.

Central government peace interlocutor P.C. Haldar is also attending the meeting.

Haldar would hold separate talks with the jailed NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary to seek his help in restraining the cadres involved in the attacks, the official said.

NDFB militants in serial attacks since Monday killed 24 people, most of them Hindi speakers, besides injuring at least 15 more.

The rebel group Thursday issued a fresh warning to the Assam government threatening to carry out more attacks if security operations were not stopped immediately.

On Nov 1, the NDFB threatened to kill 20 or more people for every NDFB cadre killed by security forces in any gun battle. The recent killings came hours after security forces Monday gunned down an NDFB militant in a gun battle.