India Police Say 25 Rebels Slain in Bangladesh Hotel
As many as 25 Indian separatists were killed in an attack by gunmen at a hotel in Dhaka, capital of neighboring Bangladesh, police in India said.
“A group of Indian insurgents were apparently holding a meeting at a hotel in Dhaka’s Segun Bagicha area when gunmen attacked and killed up to 25 of them,” said G.M. Srivastava, police chief of the northeastern Indian state of Tripura.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. July 22, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday July 22, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 79 words Type of Material: Correction
Bangladesh attack -- In an article in Sunday’s Section A about an attack on a hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Associated Press, quoting the police chief of the northeastern Indian state of Tripura, reported that as many as 25 Indian separatists had been killed by unidentified gunmen. An AP reporter went to the hotel and saw no evidence of such an attack. Dhaka police and witnesses said two Bangladeshis were injured when a homemade bomb was thrown at the hotel.
Tripura shares a porous 530-mile border with Bangladesh. Indian security forces say several separatist rebel groups in the country’s northeast have bases inside Bangladesh, from which they stage hit-and-run attacks on Indian targets.
Bangladesh has denied such claims.
Dhaka Police Commissioner Ashraful Huda said he had no report of the incident.
Srivastava said most of those killed were members of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam, which has been fighting for an independent homeland for the indigenous population of Assam, the largest of India’s seven northeastern states.
Rebels from four other Indian insurgent groups were present at the meeting in Dhaka, the police chief said.
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