By Biswajyoti Das JORHAT, India, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A powerful separatist group in India's restive Assam state threatened on Saturday to attack ruling party politicians if security forces killed any of its cadre in a new offensive against the rebels. Thousands of troops launched operations three days ago to hunt down the rebels, blamed for killing dozens of migrant workers in the past week in the northeastern region. Authorities say militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) were responsible for killing 72 people since last Friday, nearly all of them Hindi-speaking migrant labourers from eastern India. "We will target the grassroot workers as well as leaders of the Congress party if the operations against us are not stopped immediately," Prabal Neog, head of an armed wing of ULFA, told Reuters by phone. The tea-and oil-rich state is ruled by the Congress party which also leads the federal coalition government. The threat came ahead of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next week to meet the families of those killed in the attacks this month. The rebel group, one of the more than half-a-dozen major insurgent outfits in India's isolated and ethnically diverse northeast, has not admitted responsibility for the killings. The group accuses New Delhi of exploiting Assam's resources while doing little to develop the state, and flooding it with non-Assamese people. "The political leaders have come to shed crocodile tears from mainland India and play divisive politics here," Neog said. A senior Indian military commander said troops would continue to scour the hilly terrain for the armed rebels. More troops would be despatched to the region if required, federal Home Secretary V.K.Duggal said after a security meeting on Saturday. (Additional reporting by Nigam Prusty in New Delhi)
