‘Parents’ of slain militant refuse to identify body

KOKRAJHAR: The ‘parents’ of the slain gunman, who massacred 14 people near western Assam’s Kokrajhar town on Friday, could not identify their ‘son’ who reportedly

KOKRAJHAR: The ‘parents’ of the slain gunman, who massacred 14 people near western Assam’s Kokrajhar town on Friday, could not identify their ‘son’ who reportedly left home 10 years ago.

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Assam forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma, a key leader of BJP’s ally Bodoland People’s Front that rules the BTAD, said the militant was identified as Mwdwn Islary. “There is little doubt that NDFB (Songbijit) is behind the attack,” she said.

But the police have declined to draw a conclusion.

“Based on our information, we brought (sic) the parents of Mwdwn Islary, who had left home 10 years ago. The parents could not identify the killer as their son, possibly because his face was disfigured when he was gunned down,” Assam’s director general of police Mukesh Sahay said.

The passengers of the auto-rickshaw in which the militant had come, told the police he had no companion. But the police feel he could have had three more unarmed helpers. The auto driver was detained for questioning.

“It wasn’t raining when the man went on a killing spree about 11.30am, but he had a raincoat on possibly to hide the weapons,” Sahay said.

The man fired 49 rounds from an AK-56 for almost 30 minutes — hurling a Chinese grenade in between — to kill 14 people and injure 10. When the security forces eventually gunned him down, he had no raincoat on but wore pouches for holding grenades and bullets.

Sahay said it was still premature to make a final conclusion, but Friday’s killings indicated the NDFB(S) was desperate to be a disruptive force again after suffering a series of setbacks.