Tribal rebels kill five in Assam

Tribal rebels shot dead five people, including a teenaged girl, at a remote town in India's troubled northeastern state of Assam, police said on Tuesday.

Tribal rebels shot dead five people, including a teenaged girl, at a remote town in India's troubled northeastern state of Assam, police said on Tuesday.

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Militants belonging to a little-known group fighting for political autonomy for the Dimasa tribespeople opened indiscriminate fire outside a state-run hydro-power generation site about 300 km (185 miles) south of state capital Dispur.

The victims included a 12-year-old girl and two policemen.

India's northeast, comprising eight states, has been racked by separatist and tribal insurgencies for the past 60 years, as people there accuse New Delhi of plundering the region's mineral and forest resources, and investing little in return. Thousands have died in the violence.