The non-descript militant organisation, Bengali Tiger Force (BTF) which was first heard about in 1996 in the Bengali inhabited pockets of the Bodoland Autonomous Area Council (BAAC) areas, has started showing signs of strength of late.

On August 14, suspected BTF guerillas killed at least eight persons in Tangla town, forcing the district authorities to clamp indefinite curfew in the small township bodering Bhutan to prevent communal clashes.

According to senior police officers, the size and objectives of the BTF were still not clear, but ``most likely, it was born out of fear of liquidation by Bodo ultras''.

The Bengali settlers in Bodo areas have remained easy victims in the hands of the BLT militants, a Darang district official said.

Most of the policeofficials of Kokrajhar and Nalbari, the two most trouble torn districts of the State, also suspected the involvement of politicians behind these groups.

Many others, however, opine that the BTF was raised for self defence and adopted the tactics of offence to protect themselves, thus explaining the series of retaliatory attacks by the outfit in the past few months.

Although self defence was its main motto in these two districts, in the Tangla area, BTF had picked up a direct confrontation with the Bodo militants.

A communal clash took place when on the eve of the Independence Day, BTF members gunned down seven people in the area.