April 4: A day after Ulfa militants attempted to blow up an LPG bottling plant near Guwahati, security forces intercepted coded wireless messages about the banned outfit’s plans to carry out a series of strikes in the run-up to its “raising day” on April 7.
Army units operating in Upper Assam, especially the contiguous districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, were placed on maximum alert immediately after the messages were intercepted. One of the messages was “Let’s go for the Bihu dance”, probably alluding to an order to strike at an unspecified target.
The Ulfa was formed on April 7, 1979, in the premises of Ranghar, an Ahom-age amphitheatre in Sivasagar town. The outfit commemorates its “raising day” by attacking installations that it views as symbols of “occupation of Assam by colonial Indian forces”.
Army officials said after the interception of coded messages that two 30-member groups of Ulfa militants had sneaked into the Upper Assam districts from Myanmar to strike at army camps, police stations and outposts, oil installations and rail tracks and stations.
The self-styled commanding officers of the outfit’s 28th and first battalions, Prabal Neog and Achinta Gupta, are believed to be leading the two groups.
Two other “strike groups”, headed by “sergeants major” Anup Doley and Rajen Datta, have infiltrated Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts with heavy arms, ammunition and explosives, the army officials said.
Another group comprising about 40 members of the Ulfa and the NDFB is trying to sneak into Sonitpur district from Bhutan through the Bohali and Gohpur forest reserves, they added.
Security forces have stepped up vigil on rail tracks, bridges and other vital installations across the state. “We are ready to foil the militants,” an army spokesman said.
Additional director-general of police Sankar Baruah visited the oil towns of Duliajan and Digboi to take stock of the security arrangements. He advised officials of Oil India Ltd in Duliajan to take “maximum precautions” at least till the Ulfa’s “raising day”.
Police sources said the possibility of attacks had increased since the unsuccessful attempt by the Ulfa to strike at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) terminal adjacent to the New Tinsukia railway station on March 28.
The Ulfa also attacked an army camp at Daisajan tea estate under Doomdooma police station in Tinsukia district recently.
Last month, the outfit destroyed a massive storage tank at Digboi refinery with a rocket-propelled grenade. The financial loss was estimated to be Rs 15 crore. Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah told The Telegraph over phone after the incident that such strikes would continue.
Twenty people were rounded up since last night in connection with the missile attack on the LPG bottling plant at Mirza in Kamrup district.
The police said 18 of them were released, while two were detained at Palasbari police station for further interrogation.