Click to play videoNew Delhi: In the first major attack in Assam in the last one year, banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants have killed 65 people - 17 in fresh attacks on Sunday.
Targeting mostly people from Hindi-speaking groups, ULFA had issued strong hints in an editorial in the December issue of its mouthpiece, Freedom about its intention to target the non-Assamese people in the state.
The warning had however, either been completely missed by the state government, or the administration was merely complacent in its approach, thinking that the militant outfit would not go ahead with its threat.
However, with the death toll hitting 65 with Sunday's attack, concern has finally begun to set in.
Assurances for security and compensation are now pouring in from the Centre and the state government and Railway Minister Lalu Yadav is expected to visit Assam on Monday.
The situation in the state is turning political in nature with Samajwadi Party's Amar Singh and BJP President Rajnath Singh visiting the state on Monday.
Meanwhile, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has made an earnest appeal for peace in Assam, and has said dialogue could be the only way to solve all problems.
The state government has declared January 8 as a Black Day. Political parties and students groups have also announced that they would commemorate the attacks on January 11 by declaring it as a Black Day.
Assam Governor Lieutenant General (Retired) Ajai Singh on Sunday came down heavily on ULFA militants branding them as a "group of petty criminals without morals indulging in unlawful activity".
"This cowardly act (killing of Hindi-speaking people) once again confirms the fact that they are not a revolutionary organisation as claimed by them but at best are a group of petty criminals." Singh said in a statement in Guwahati.
Singh appealed to society to condemn the activities of "this malicious organisation."
Minister of State for Home Affairs Shriprakash Jaiswal visited Tinsukia and parts of upper Assam on Sunday, with a high level Central team. Protesting families of those killed in the attacks blocked a highway in Tinsukia holding the bodies of some of the victims killed in the massacre.
Nonetheless, Jaiswal managed to meet the families of the victims and indicated that the Center was likely to increase the relief package.
As tension continued to rise in the strife-torn state of Assam, shoot-at-sight orders were issued in Tinsukia district.
Following the attacks, there have been clashes between immigrant labourers and the ethnic Assamese people in pockets of Dhola and Tinsukia towns.
Security analysts said that, with the attacks, the ULFA had sent a message to New Delhi that it was still a force to reckon with and that decades of battle had not blunted it.
"The ULFA wants to make it clear that Government should not try to ignore it and also wants to prove that it still has the strength to strike at will," said analyst Harekrishna Deka.
(With inputs from Deborshi Chaki for CNN-IBN and agencies)
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