S P O T L I G H T

22 massacred in Assam
Guwahati, October 27
At least 22 persons 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 today morning. A top police official told PTI here that the ultras opened fire on persons sleeping in their houses in Dadgiri village under the Basugaon police station area killing 22 on the spot and injuring several others. PTI

BJP dissident
Lucknow, October 27
The BJP in Uttar Pradesh today suspended key dissident leader of the party Ganga Bhakt Singh, who raised the banner of protest pressing for the party’s withdrawal from the Mayawati ministry in the state. Announcing the disciplinary action at a news conference here, BJP state chief Vinay Katiyar said Ganga Bhakt Singh was found “hobnobbing” with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and suspended from the party. PTI

Suicide bomber kills 3 Ariel (West Bank), October 27 A Palestinian suicide bomber blew up at a Jewish settlement today, killing three persons, after he was grabbed by two bystanders and shot by Israeli soldiers, police and witnesses said. The blast coincided with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s biggest Cabinet dispute since taking office 19 months ago — a crisis over the funding of the settlements that threatened to shatter his ruling coalition. Shortly after the explosion in a petrol station in the settlement of Ariel, the Israeli troops killed two militants in Nablus in the West Bank. Palestinian officials called it an assassination, but the army said the men died in a gun battle. Reuters

An Israeli man is taken into hospital after he was wounded by a Palestinian suicide bomber at the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Ariel on Sunday. — Reuters photo