Eleven dead in northeast India shooting

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GUWAHATI, India, Aug 11 (AFP): Suspected separatists in northeast India shot dead 11 people in the latest ethnic attack ahead of India's Independence Day celebrations, police said today.
Separately, a child was killed and 18 people were injured in two explosions as rebel groups stepped up attacks to protest New Delhi's rule over the oil, tea and timber-rich state of Assam.
Late Friday, around a dozen heavily-armed militants entered the homes of two families of Hindi-speaking migrant workers and shot them as they slept, police said.
The attack took place in a village around 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of Assam's main city Guwahati, where many of the dead were working as farm labourers.
In a shooting in the same district Wednesday eight Hindi-speaking migrants were killed, raising fears that a new wave of attacks could be under way similar to events in January when over 60 labourers were killed.