Friday, July 14 2006 14:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Guwahati: Normal life ground to a halt in Assam today (July 14, 2006) as rights groups called for a dawn-to-dusk general strike to protest the killing of six separatists by soldiers.

A police official said shops and other business establishments, financial and educational institutions remained closed, while vehicular traffic kept off the roads.

"Attendance in most government offices was virtually nil with normal life totally hit by the strike," an Assam government spokesperson said.

The 12-hour strike that began at 6 a.m. was called by the People's Committee for Peace Initiative (PCPI), a conglomerate of 21 influential civil society and rights groups advocating solving the region's violent insurgency problem through peace talks with the government.

The shutdown was called to protest the killing of six top militant leaders of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) by soldiers Tuesday in two separate incidents.

"The killing of the ULFA leaders proved that the government was not sincere in solving the problem through talks," a PCPI statement said.

Four ULFA rebels were killed in the adjoining state of Meghalaya and two more were killed in western Assam in separate gunbattles Tuesday.

"The killings took place in encounters when the ULFA rebels challenged troops with weapons like AK-81 rifles and grenades and so one cannot say the rebels were killed just like that," said a senior Assam police official.

New Delhi is currently engaged in peace talks with ULFA representatives the last round of talks with India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil concluded last month.

The ULFA, a rebel group fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979, in October 2005 nominated a group of civil society members to initiate talks with New Delhi to pave the way for a bilateral ceasefire and then begin direct negotiations between government peace emissaries and the militant leadership.

"We also want peace and a ceasefire to be announced. But for that to happen the ULFA leadership must establish direct contact with the government so as to facilitate a truce between the two sides," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told sources.

The ULFA is one of the most organised rebel armies in the northeast that is home to about 30-odd rebel groups with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy.

More than 15,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency and hundreds maimed for life in Assam since 1979.