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The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) faction (anti-talks) led by fugitive commander in chief Paresh Barua on Monday accused that Assam police of shooting down an innocent youth and injuring four others in a 'fake encounter against ULFA ultras' in Tinsukia district of Assam on Sunday.
While the Assam police claim to have killed an ULFA militant at Dirak Sonajan area in Tinsukia district bordering Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday, the ULFA faction stated that the youth killed by the police was not a cadre of the outfit. The ULFA hawks have warned the Assam police against the killing of innocent Assamese youth in the name of counter insurgency operations and in compliance of orders from officials from outside the state.
In an e-mail, ULFA's publicity wing member Joy Asom said, "Assam police on Sunday apprehended five youth from Borali village in Kakopathar and subsequently told the youth to run after forcing them to alight from the police vehicle at Sonajan. The police personnel then fired upon the youth from behind in which one of them was killed while four others were injured. The killed youth and the injured four were not ULFA members, but they are all innocent Assamese youths. They had no links with ULFA."
Assam police and the Army have of late increased its operations against the anti-talks faction of the ULFA in eastern Assam districts, especially Tinsukia bordering Arunachal Pradesh. The areas are vulnerable to recruitments by ULFA because of the alarming problem of unemployment and under development.
The area close to Arunachal Pradesh's eastern part having border with Myanmar territory where the ULFA hawks have set up new training and operation base with the help of Naga rebel group NSCN-K. The ULFA commander in chief Paresh Barua is suspected to be holed up in ULFA's Myanmar base.