India Monday ordered extra troops to its troubled north-eastern states in a bid to stem a wave of rebel-linked violence which has killed 69 people and injured 210 in the past three days, officials said.
It also deployed extra soldiers along its borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, they said.
In fresh violence early Monday, suspected members of the rebel National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) lined up villagers in Assam state's Sonitpur district and opened fire.
Police said six people died and nine were wounded in the attack, 180 kilometres (112 miles) from the main city of Guwahati. It followed a string of rebel-linked bombings and gunfire attacks in Assam and Nagaland states at the weekend.
India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil, after a two-day tour of the flash-points, promised Monday to send more troops to the region.
"We have instructed additional paramilitary and army columns to be despatched to Assam following a request from local government," he told reporters at Guwahati airport before flying back to Delhi.
The bloodletting coincides with the 18th anniversary of the founding of the NDFB, one of around 30 rebel groups fighting for greater autonomy or independence in the region.
Patil said New Delhi was open to talks with the rebel groups "although we are committed to taking very strong measures to deal with the spurt in violence.
"Let the militant groups come and talk to us, we are prepared to discuss all issues," he said.
Patil also called for closer inter-state co-ordination among the troops battling militancy in the region. He sought the help of locals to deal with militancy, which officials say is aimed at disrupting the peace process underway in the north-east.
Civilians are often the targets of the attacks, such as on Saturday when three near-simultaneous bomb explosions at a railway station and in two markets in Nagaland's commercial hub Dimapur killed 50 people.
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