Dibrugarh, Jan. 22: The army today denied the Ulfa claim that the outfit had killed 15 soldiers at Daisajan tea estate under Doomdooma police station in Upper Assam?s Tinsukia district yesterday.
A person, claiming to be Ulfa ?commander-in-chief? Paresh Barua, had called up The Telegraph yesterday and claimed that the outfit had killed 15 soldiers in an encounter with the army in the tea estate.
?It is a cowardly act of a group of militants who are frustrated and want to prove their existence,? said Maj. Gen. H.S. Batra, GOC of 2 Mountain Division, in charge of counter-insurgency operations in Upper Assam, over phone from Dinjan.
Batra said the Ulfa wanted to gain psychological advantage by carrying out such attacks before Republic Day. ?But we have tackled these situations well in the past and our forces are capable of thwarting any evil design of the Ulfa,? Batra said.
Earlier, the army had claimed in a release that ?through vast sources of intelligence, information has been coming in that Ulfa operational commander Paresh Barua is pressuring the outfit?s cadre in Tinsukia and Dibrugrah to launch operations against security forces for regaining ascendancy in the ongoing counter-insurgency operation?.
The intelligence inputs had alerted the troops to maintain extra vigil, the release had added. The attack on the post is the outfit?s ?first ever attack? on an army camp. Intelligence sources in Tinsukia said there had been reports of the presence of a 15-member Ulfa hit squad in the district to carry out guerrilla attacks on security forces over the past few weeks.
Refusing to comment on who was leading the Ulfa squad, the official said the militants possessed sophisticated arms. The army, police, CRPF and Tinsukia and Dibrugrah administrations have begun reviewing the law and order scenario in the districts ahead of Republic Day.
In a separate incident, Dibrugarh police yesterday gunned down Ulfa militant Dawood Khansa in Rangsali village under Khowang police station.