A powerful improvised explosive device was recovered on Thursday on railway tracks at Bijni in Chirang district of Assam on the eve of the 12-hour Assam bandh called by anti-talk faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam to protest Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's day-long visit to Guwahati on Friday.
A 10-year-old boy was killed in the crossfire and two Army troopers injured in a fierce encounter with a group of militants at a village in Kalaigaon area in Udalguri district of Assam on Tuesday night.The encounter that started nearly six hours ago is still going on, said sources. A militant of the outlawed ULFA has also been killed in the encounter.The security forces launched the operation after receiving information about a group of militants hiding in the village.
Over 95 per cent of people in nine districts of Assam have rejected the banned United Liberation Front of Asom's demand for sovereignty for the state, a referendum conducted by a forum of kin of the militants has revealed.
The ULFA anti-talks faction triggered a blast at Assam Pradesh Congres Committee headquarter on March 14 in which three Congress leaders were injured. But Gogoi on Friday tried to make light of the ULFA threat saying that the threat had been there since a long time.
The peace initiative hit an apparently irresolvable stalemate, thanks to adamant postures adopted by both the ULFA and the government of India.
In a statement e-mailed to the media in Guwahati on Thursday afternoon, the ULFA alleged that the television channel owned by industrialist Jaiswal and his family had tried to defame the outfit by misusing the electronic media by virtue of being its proprietor.
Seething with anger the banned United Liberation Front of Asom has called for a 12-hour dawn to dusk Assam bandh on Tuesday for demanding the release of human rights activist and chief convenor of the ULFA-constituted People's Consultative Group Lachit Bardoloi.
Gogoi had said that if the ULFA responded positively to the safe passage offer, he would send a proposal to the Union Home Ministry to the effect.
Police sources said that the militant's target, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Jayanta Sarothi Bora, escaped unhurt as the blast narrowly missed him. The bomb was planted on the road by suspected ULFA militants.
Assam's Education and Health minister, Dr Himanta Bishwa Sharma on Tuesday fired a broadside at the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)- anti-talks faction- for trying to malign his image by stating that he was a former member of the non-military (political wing) of the outfit.
A top United Liberation Front of Asom insurgent was killed on Friday in an encounter with the army in upper Assam's Tinsukia district along the Arunachal Pradesh border and ULFA accused the the pro-talk outfit for the killing.
Two militants belonging to the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) --anti-talks faction -- were killed in an explosion when they were trying to plant a bomb on the Railway track between Bhoju and Charangaram railways stations of the Northeast Frontier Railway under Sonai sub-division in Sivasagar district of Assam on Monday morning.
The IEDs exploded adjacent to a police reserve and about 150 mt away from the parade ground where the celebration was on at 8 am, police said.
In the operations, besides ULFA, troops are also hitting sanctuaries and bases of outfits like National Democratic front of Bodoland and Manipur-based Kangleipak National Liberation Front.
The anti-incumbency factor is virtually a non-issue in the forthcoming assembly elections in Assam.
The improvised explosive device was planted on a bicycle parked near a pan shop in front of Jorhat district police station located on Mahatma Gandhi road in the town, hat is located about 310 km to the east of Guwahati.
The peace talks process with top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders has started, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Monday but ruled out that the state's sovereignty would be on the agenda. "The process for talks has started but no breakthrough achieved. However, the government is optimistic," Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati.The issue of 'sovereignity of Assam', however, would never be on the agenda for talks, he said.
The Government of India has extended the ban on the United Liberation Front of Assam and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland with a fresh notification making it clear that operation against hawkish factions of these two outfits would continue notwithstanding the on-going peace process involving doves of both the outfits.
A United Liberation Front of Asom terrorist was on Tuesday killed in an encounter with security forces in Assam's Goalpara district bordering Meghalaya.
Surveillance has been mounted all over Assam apprehending terror strikes by the outlawed anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam led by its fugitive commander in chief Paresh Barua in and around the outfit's raising day on April 7 next.
The ULFA killed six Hindi-speaking persons in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts on Tuesday.
'Talking about boycotting polls is simply a move to galvanise party leaders, workers, and supporters for the big political fight.'
A top official in Assam Police informed that two ULFA militants were engaged in an encounter by a joint team of the army and police at Halikuchi on the bank of a river in Rangiya sub-division of Kamrup district on Thursday afternoon. Pranjal Deka was killed in the exchange of fire while the other militant managed to flee by crossing the river.
Two militants from the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland were killed in an encounter with security forces at Mahendrapur, under Gossaingaon police station in Kokrajhar district, in Assam on Saturday morning.The entire state has been put on alert following a warning by intelligence agencies that the NDFB and United Liberation Front of Asom are planning to carry out blasts across Assam.A woman ULFA cadre and explosive expert Jonali Rajbonghi was arrested.
Three persons were killed and over 15 injured in two separtae incidents of bomb blasts in Guwahati and Tinsukia in Assam.
The anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Friday blamed "infighting" within the ruling Congress party in Assam for the violence between Bodos and minorities. The outfit claimed that people in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts are being made "political scapegoat" for the sake of individual ambitions of leaders.
Suspected militants belonging to the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom shot dead two Hindi-speaking persons at Talap near Doom Dooma in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district at around 7 pm on Monday.
The Army shot dead two militants of the United Liberation Front of Assom in an anti-insurgency operation in North Assam on Sunday. A satellite phone as well as arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants.
The police are on the look out for a 'few dumps of explosives' that have already been sneaked into the city by ULFA militants with intention to disrupt I-Day celebrations.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday informed the media in Guwahati that in response to the request made by Dr Ram's son and wife, the state government decided to give its nod for a CBI probe into the incident.
The blast in Anthgaon area on Saturday has evoked sharp reaction from different sections of people who have strongly the condemned the dastardly act by ULFA ultras.
Police informed that a programmable timer device which was planted by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom militants on a bicycle parked near the traffic police point at Paglasthan locality in the town, exploded at around 9.30 am.
The United Liberation Front of Asom's self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, who is known to be against talks, on Saturday said he had "full confidence" in chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa and the outfit was ready for a dialogue provided "sovereignty" for Assam was discussed.
Flood-ravaged Dhemaji district where surface communication is in shambles, is infested with ULFA militants taking advantage of interior locations.
All four blasts occurred in a span of 10 minutes -- between 8.15 and 8.25 am, a police officer said. There has been no report of any casualty, as Republic Day being a holiday, people were mostly indoors, he said.
Three persons, including a United Liberation Front of Asom militant, were killed and six others injured in three separate incidents of violence in Assam on Thursday, on the eve of Republic Day.
Police suspected the blasts were the handiwork of the ULFA, which was stepping up subversive activities in the run up to its foundation day on April seven.
Fourteen people were injured, five of them critically, in a bomb blast triggered by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom militants at a market place near Tezpur police station in Assam's Sonitpur district on Wednesday afternoon.
