9 more killed in Indian tribal violence

A police official said heavily armed militants belonging to the Dima Halam Daogah tribe killed nine rival Karbi tribal rebels in the Karbi Anglong district, 295km east of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

"According to preliminary reports 12 armed Karbi rebels were involved in burning down houses belonging to the Dimasa tribe when they were challenged by a group of militants," a senior police official who did not wished to be identified told AFP by telephone.

Police suspect the victims were members of the outlawed United People's Democratic Solidarity, a rag-tag rebel army fighting for an independent homeland for the majority Karbi tribe in eastern Assam.

"Witnesses said the rebels were killed by the rival group with automatic weapons and they managed to burn down some 120 houses before the encounter took place," the official said.

India Thursday said it will disarm two rival tribal groups to end more than three weeks of ethnic clashes that have claimed 80 lives in the restive northeastern state of Assam.

A senior home ministry official said authorities in Assam had been given orders to seize weapons from all militants belonging to the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) and the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD).

"We have decided to disarm rebels of both the DHD and the UPDS immediately in view of the escalating ethnic clashes," Rajeev Agarwal, joint Secretary in India's home ministry, told reporters.

He was part of a team led by junior home minister Sriprakash Jaiswal that visited the violence-hit Karbi Anglong district in eastern Assam Thursday.