Guwahati: At least 22 people were massacred in their sleep and several others injured when the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland militants raided a village on the Indo-Bhutan international border in Assam's Kokrajhar district early October 27 morning.

A top police official said that the ultras opened fire on people sleeping in their houses in Dadgiri village under Basugaon police station area killing 22 of them on the spot and injuring several others.

The victims have been identified as Bihari Muslims and Nepalese who trade goods across the border to Bhutan. The NDFB has camps in Bhutan bordering Assam and has been active in the area.

Meanwhile, four policemen were injured, two of them seriously, when a bomb planted by militants under a bridge exploded, the official said.

The injured were members of a police party from Basugaon police station going to Dadgiri to investigate the massacre.

Two of them have been hospitalised.

The area has been cordoned off and security stepped up following the incident with senior police officials including the director general of police camping at the spot to oversee combing operations.

PTI