Rebels kill 14 Hindi-speaking people in India

Tribal separatists in northeast India shot dead at least 14 people in three attacks on Monday, police said, adding that the targets were Hindi-speakers.

The outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) fired at a passenger bus in Sonitpur district, about 250km north of Assam's main city Guwahati, killing eight passengers.

"All those killed were Hindi-speaking people hailing from eastern state of Bihar and working as government employees," said Assam's police chief Shankar Baruah.

In another incident five people, including a woman, were killed after NDFB militants opened fire near Belseri village, also in Sonitpur district.

In the third attack a Hindi-speaker was killed in Nalbari district in western Assam.

Tension has simmered for years in Assam, with rebels and local leaders complaining that Hindi-speaking migrants from the northern Ganges plain are changing the demographics of the state and taking local jobs.

In 2000 several separatist groups carried out a campaign against Hindi-speaking people, killing 150 of them.