Death toll rises to 52 in rebel violence in northeast India

In this Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014 photo, an injured person is treated at a hospital in Kokrajhar district, in northeast state of Assam, India. Separatist rebels gunned down more than 30 people and wounded a dozen more in India's remote northeast Tuesday in a series of coordinated attacks, police said. (AP Photo/Press Trust of India) INDIA OUT In this Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014 photo, an injured person is treated at a hospital in Kokrajhar district, in northeast state of Assam, India. Separatist rebels gunned down more than 30 people and wounded a dozen more in India's remote northeast Tuesday in a series of coordinated attacks, police said. (AP Photo/Press Trust of India) INDIA OUT

By Associated Press December 24, 2014 1 min read

NEW DELHI (AP) – Police officials in India’s remote northeast say that the death toll in rebel violence in Assam state has risen to 52 with the discovery of more bodies.

Hridayananda Das, a police inspector in state capital Guwahati said Wednesday that the rebels gunned down at least 37 Adivasi, or tribal settlers, in Sonitpur district and 15 others in Kokrajhar. The killings took place in a series of five coordinated attacks late Tuesday.

All those killed were Adivasis who largely work in tea gardens in the region.

Officials say that fighters from National Democratic Front of Bodoland were behind the killings.

Adivasis, who migrated to Assam more than 100 years ago, have been targeted by Bodo rebels in the past. Land and jobs are at the heart of the clashes.