India's anti-terror agency takes over probe of terror attack in NE state of Assam

India's anti-terror agency Saturday took over the investigation of Friday's terror attack in the northeastern state of Assam, in which 14 people were killed and over 20 others sustained injuries.

"A team of the National Investigation Agency reached the Balajan Tiniali market outside the state's Kokrajhar town, around 220 km from Guwahati, scoured the site and spoke to eyewitnesses of the terror attack," a senior police official said.

Four to five militants reached the weekly market in the afternoon of Friday and hurled grenades and opened fire indiscriminately at a crowd of people who had gathered there for trade. One militant was also neutralised by the security forces.

Assam's Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who visited the attack site, said that the militant who was killed has been identified as Manjay Islari. "He is a self-styled area commander of the 16th battalion of a faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland," he told the media.

The Assam Police have suspected that the militants who carried out the attack were rebels of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland in Kokrajhar, which has been fighting for a separate homeland for the region's ethnic Bodo people.

Meanwhile, the security forces are combing nearby areas for the other militants who managed to flee after the attack. "Specialised troops, tracker dogs and other sophisticated equipment have been pressed into service," the official said.

Assam's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who rushed back to his state from the Indian capital, also visited those injured in the hospital and asked doctors to do their best. He had condemned the attack and vowed strict action against the perpetrators.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also condemned the terror attack and tweeted that he was saddened by the loss of lives. Endit