Rebels in India's northeast kill 5 in fresh attack

Suspected separatist rebels killed five people in a spray of gunfire before setting a village ablaze in India's remote northeast, police said Thursday. Meanwhile, police arrested the insurgents' suspected leader at a southern hotel.Authorities said the violence was part of a recent wave of attacks by Dimasa rebels fighting for a separate homeland in southern Assam state. At least 31 people have died since March, said senior police official Dipak Kumar. The rebel group, the Dima Halam Daogah, has attacked trains, soldiers and members of other ethnic groups, said senior police official Dipak Kumar. The victims of the latest attack were all members of a Naga tribe called the Zemes, he said. The latest attack occurred in the remote and mountainous Boro-Chenam village. The suspected leader of the DHD, Jewel Garlosa, was arrested on Thursday at a hotel in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, said G.M. Srivastava, a senior Assam police official. Earlier this week, police arrested a senior elected official, Mohit Hojai, on charges of funneling money to the DHD rebels to buy arms. Authorities are still interrogating Hojai, who has denied the charges, according to senior police official Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta.