A joint team of the Indian Army and Assam police shot dead a hardcore militant belonging to the banned United Liberation Front of Assam in a shoot out at Pokabam village under Panitola police station in Tinsukia district at around 0930 hours on Saturday.

Police informed that the militant was identified as Amar Tanti, member of the outfit's most active 28^th battalion.

Acting on a tip-off, the team swooped down on the hideout of the militant. On seeing the men in uniform, the militant tried to flee by exploding a grenade. He was shot dead in the process.

Tanti was one of the most-wanted ULFA militants and was involved in a large number of bomb explosion incidents in Tinsukia district as well as the infamous assassination of Hindi-speaking people in Dibrugarh district in January this year.

The militant's killing is construed to be a set-back to ULFA, as he had allegedly led many recent subversive activities and extortion operations of the outfit in Upper Assam districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.

Security forces had been keeping constant pressure on the banned ULFA in its eastern Assam bastion of late, which prompted the outfit to gear up its subversive activities in lower Assam areas, including state capital Guwahati to divert the focus of the security forces but in vain.