Assam's Karbi Anglong district has become a killing field. On 17 October 2005, militants brutally hacked to death 36 Karbi tribal villagers, including seven women, taking the toll in the two week of ethnic clashes to 72.

An indefinite curfew was imposed in the violence-hit district with the authorities issuing shoot-on-sight orders late in the evening. A police official said in the first incident, 22 bus passengers were massacred at around 8.30 am in village Jirikinding in Karbi Anglong district, about 320 km east of Guwahati.

A group of about 40-odd heavily armed rebels belonging to the outlawed Dima Halom Daoga (DHD) stopped two crowded buses on the outskirts of Jirikinding and asked all Karbi passengers to stay inside the vehicles and others to get down.

"Passengers of one of the buses sensed trouble and fled to a nearby jungle, but the militants virtually slaughtered passengers from the other bus killing 22 on the spot," Karbi Anglong district magistrate DD Tripathi said.

The militants used spears and machetes to kill the passengers with some of them receiving bullet injuries as well. The two buses were set ablaze by the hooded militants soon after the attack. "Some of the dead bodies were later thrown inside the burning buses, thereby charring some of the victims beyond recognition," a senior police official said. All the victims were from the majority Karbi tribe. Five seriously injured Karbi passengers were shifted to local hospitals.

"The injured were bleeding profusely and the militants thought them to be dead and so left the area," the police official said. In two separate attacks, armed DHD rebels attacked village Sarchim and Prasin in the same district and killed 14 more Karbi villagers. "The militants went to the two villages and set ablaze some 70 houses and hacked to death 14 villagers, including three children," the police official said. At least 20 people were wounded in the attacks in the two villages.

Army and paramilitary soldiers have since begun a massive hunt in the area to nab the rebels. The majority Karbi and the Dimasas have been engaged in a bitter turf war for many years with the situation turning violent in recent weeks with armed militants of both the tribes attacking rival community members. In retaliatory strikes, armed Karbi rebels attacked at least two Dimasa villages in the district and burnt down at least a hundred houses on the evening of 17 October 2005.

"The villages where the retaliatory strikes took place are very remote and we are yet to get any more details from the spot," the district magistrate said. "The villages where the retaliatory strikes took place are very remote and we are yet to get any more details from the spot," he added.

During the ongoing violence 1500 homes have been set ablaze triggering a massive exodus of villagers from both the tribes. "An estimated 30,000 people are in makeshift shelters and the numbers are growing by the day with fresh streams of people leaving their villages out of fear," Tripathi said.

The outlawed United Democratic People's Solidarity (UPDS), a rag-tag rebel group fighting for a Karbi tribal homeland, and the DHD, a militant group fighting for a Dimasa homeland, were suspected to be behind the attacks. The majority Karbis bore the brunt in the recent attacks with armed DHD rebels killing 47 of the 58 dead so far.