The victims of the guerrilla attacks were mostly tea-plantation workers from other parts of India. Assam has a history of sectarian bloodshed and armed groups fighting for autonomy or secession.

Hundreds of plantation workers armed with spears and bows and arrows defied a curfew imposed in response to the rebel attacks and surrounded police stations in Sonitpur district, the area worst hit by the militant violence, saying authorities had failed to protect them.