The Karbi National Volunteers (KNV), a militant organisation of the Karbi tribe of Assam, was floated in the eighties with the objective of using violent means to secure a separate state of Karbi Anglong. KNV activists had been trained by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM). After signing a ceasefire agreement with the Union Government in August 1997, the NSCN-IM has discontinued its assistance to KNV, a rag-tag force of less than 50 militants.

In early 2000, this outfit merged with another Karbi militant group — Karbi People's Front (KPF) forming a new platform called the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS). In April 2000, the KNV unleashed a violent campaign in Assam's hill district, Karbi Anglong, killing as many as 28 non-tribals in three separate incidents.