Baksa, Assam:
A pall of gloom has descended on those living in N K Khagrabari village in Assam's Baksa district where 56 homes were destroyed in an attack by suspected National Democratic Front of Bodoland militants on Friday.
Nineteen bodies have been recovered from the village so far and many young children are among the dead. Villagers say as many as 25 people are still missing.
Iman Ali has already lost his family of four. Bodies of his mother and four-year-old daughter have been found, but he is still looking for two of his children.
Similarly, Uzefa Khatoon lost her nine-year-old daughter in the attack. And she is still looking for another child, aged 5.
These deaths are part of the 31 killings that have taken place in Assam's Kokrajhar and Baksa districts since Thursday, areas that are part of territories administered by the Bodoland Territorial Council.
In response to these killings, the government has pumped in paramilitary forces and called in the Army to conduct flag marches in the area. Twelve people have been arrested but none of these are the suspected militants who carried out the strikes. These people are believed to have provided the logistics for the attack.
Many believe that the root cause of this latest conflict is the Lok Sabha election that was held here recently. In a region fraught with ethnic faultlines between the indigenous Bodo tribe and the predominantly Muslim settlers, a perception has gained ground that all non-Bodo communities here have not voted for the ruling Bodoland People's Front candidate, and this could have been the trigger for the attacks.
The Assam government has not yet given out any reasons for the attack. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has requested the central government for a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In 2012, ethnic violence between the Bodos and the Muslims led to more than 70 deaths and displacement of lakhs of people. Many in the region are now hoping that the latest cycle of violence can be contained by the government.