The anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam on Wednesday alleged that a section of senior police officials were in collusion with a band of criminals who have been kidnapping Assamese businessmen in Tinsukia districts in eastern Assam to defame the ULFA.
Suspected militants belonging to proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam, anti-talks faction, triggered two powerful blasts in upper Assam areas late Thursday night on the eve of the 12-hour bandh called by the outfit on Friday in protest against Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to the city.
The CPI(ML) took out a protest march in Patna on Sunday. After the march the party demanded action against ULFA.
Two suspected United Liberation Front of Asom militants were killed in an encounter with the army in north Assam's Lakhimpur district while two other persons were injured in a blast that rocked a small western Assam town in two separate incidents violence in the state on Saturday. Security sources informed that two suspected ULFA militants were killed following a gunbattle with a team of personnel from the 2nd Bihar Regiment.
For the banned ULFA, it is the people from the 'Indian sub-continent' who are illegal migrants in Assam and not the 'trespassers' from neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal.
With the anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam regaining strength, security forces in Assam have been put on high alert to mount vigil against any attempt by the outfit to disrupt peace during the forthcoming festive season in the state.
Acting on a tip off, the Gorkha regiment raided the Mechaki reserve forest area at Hankhati where the militants, including hardcore ULFA ultra Joond Bhuyan, were sheltered. When the militants opened fire at the approaching militants, the securitymen retaliated and heavy exchange of fire continued for nearly an hour. In the shootout, Captain S Choudhury sustained grievous injuries and was airlifted to the Air Force hospital at Roroiya, where he was declared dead.
At least 13 persons were injured, including two policemen, when an explosion triggered by suspected militants belonging to the anti-talks faction of United Liberation Front of Assam rocked Doom Dooma township of eastern Assam's Tinsukia district on Thursday evening.
Normal life was hit in Assam on Thursday due to a day-long Assam bandh called by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to protest against the stepped up operation by security forces against it.
Five persons, including three women, were killed and 75 others injured when the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam struck with vengeance by triggering an explosion at the weekly market at Kumarikata in Baksa district of Assam bordering Bhutan hills at around 1.20 pm on Sunday. The bomb was planted on a bicycle.
Three persons were injured in a low intensity blast that took place inside the Congress head office in Guwahati, on Monday evening. A grenade was thrown into the office on GS Road in Tarun Nagar in the heart of Assam's capital.
However, the police and paramilitary force personnel are being deployed heavily in Bihu cultural function venues all over the state to prevent any untoward incidents that may be engineered by the ULFA out of frustration.
One person was killed in blasts on Saturday. ULFA denies hand in the blasts.
The Assam government on Wednesday in principle decided to take the initiative to initiate dialogue with top leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam, even without the participation of the outfit's commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, who is yet to be arrested."The Assam Cabinet, in a meeting held today, in principle decided to initiate dialogue with the ULFA, whose top leaders are now in jail," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told media personnel.
The two factions of the Naga rebel group Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland -- NSCN-Isak Muivah and NSCN-Khaplang -- which have been in truce with government of India forces, have become a headache for the Assam government in its fight against insurgents.
The suspected militants fled the scene after hurling the grenade.
With the anti-talk faction of United Liberation Front of Assam led by Paresh Baruah calling for a 12-hour shutdown in Assam to protest against the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, security has been stepped up in the state to avoid any untoward incident.
The United Liberation Front of Asom doves, the pro-talks faction of the ULFA, has demanded full autonomy for Assam within the framework of the Constitution, after detaching itself from the banned militant group's demand for the 'restoration of Assam's sovereignty'.Mrinal Hazarika, president of the ULFA doves, submitted a 18-point charter of demand to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, to resolve the insurgency problem in the state.
The offensive came as the Central government called off the truce with the outfit earlier in the day.
A militant of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom was killed in an encounter with police under Dhekiajuli police station area in north Assam's Sonitpur district at around 8 pm on Friday night.
Twenty persons were injured, two of them critically, when suspected United Liberation Front of Assam militants triggered a blast near the the Revenue circle office at Bijni in Chirang district of Assam on Thursday afternoon even as an unidentified caller threatened massive explosions in three main cities--Guwahati, Jorhat and Sivasagar--in Assam soon.
Goswami said ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Barua seemed positive about the outcome of the just held PCG-government meeting but was 'terribly agitated' when she spoke to him over phone on Saturday.
Finding itself in a soup over the arrest of one of its senior leaders, Hira Sarania, by the police on charges of twin murders and robbery, the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam on Wednesday decided to suspend him from the primary membership of the organisation, besides relieving him of all his responsibilities.
An Army source informed that, a joint team of Army and Assam Police acting on a tip-off about presence of a group of ULFA militants launched search operation inside Mohina forest village near Dhomdhoma late Saturday night
Notwithstanding the latest reverses it has suffered at the hands of security forces and because of the split that has appeared in its ranks with two crack companies declaring unilateral ceasefire, the ULFA still poses the greatest challenge to security forces in Assam.
A formal ceasefire agreement between the pro-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, the Centre and the Assam Government is slated to be inked when ULFA leaders meet government representatives in New Delhi on September 3, according to an official source in Guwahati.
A major fire broke out at Numaligarh Refinery Limited in Assam's Golaghat district on Saturday, with the United Liberation Front of Assam claiming responsibility for triggering a blast which led to the subsequent fire.
Six persons were killed and 49 injured and a gas pipeline of Assam Gas Company Limited was extensively damaged in separate incidents of violence as ultras of the United Liberation Front of Asom went on a killing spree in Upper Assam on Sunday.
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.
Even as the government of India and the pro-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam are to sit for a dialogue to resolve the political problem, hardliners of the outfit, led by fugitive commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, are out to create fresh trouble in the state.
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.
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.
As the banned outfit is showing belligerence by striking with vengeance in the wake of 'A' and 'C' companies of its 28th battalion declaring unilateral truce with government India forces, security agencies apprehend retaliatory attacks on the vulnerable Hindi-speaking population in eastern Assam areas. Patrolling has been intensified in eastern Assam areas that have sizeable population of Hindi-speaking people.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 peace initiative hit an apparently irresolvable stalemate, thanks to adamant postures adopted by both the ULFA and the government of India.
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