Insurgency / Assam

GUWAHATI, July 28 - The banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has shifted three of its big camps further deep inside Bhutanese territory to avoid conflicts with the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA), according to the deputy inspector-general of the Border Security Force (BSF), Ashok Kumar. He said the outfit had shifted the camps last week in view of the Bhutan government's fresh move to evict them from its soil. The Bhutan government had held two rounds of talks with the leadership of the ULFA and during the discussions the latter had agreed to reduce the number of men instead of leaving the...

GUWAHATI, July 27: At least six persons, including five policemen, were killed and five others received bullet injuries when a group of unidentified extremists ambushed a police party at Lalongdisha near Diphu in Karbi Anglong District early Tuesday morning. Though the identity of the extremists involved in the incident is yet to be ascertained, police suspect that it was a joint operation of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) and the Dima Halong Daogah (DHD). Police sources here said a police team headed by the additional superintendent of police of Karbi Anglong and deputy...

NEW DELHI, July 24: Formal contact has been established between the top ULFA leadership and the Union government. Highly-placed sources in the ministry of home affairs have confirmed that a series of preliminary rounds of talks have been held during the recent past with the ULFA leadership. The last round of talks was held in London last month, where intermediaries of the Union government met the chairman of the banned outfit, Arabinda Rajkhowa. However, contrary to reports, the commander-in-chief of the outfit, Paresh Baruah, considered a hardliner, had neither established contacts with the...

PHUENTSHOLING, July 23: The Bhutan government has served an ultimatum on the ULFA and Bodo terrorists to leave the country or face eviction. Meanwhile, the government has decided to enforce a cut-off in supplies to the terrorists in camps. The terrorists sneaked into the dense forests in Bhutan on the Bhutan-India border in 1992 and established as many as 21 camps between Kalikhola and Daifam. The spurt in their activities in Bhutan was noticed following the pressure on the ULFA terrorists in Bangladesh by the Bangladesh government a few years ago. The home minister of Bhutan Thinley Gyamtsho...

GUWAHATI, July 21: Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief of the armed wing of the banned Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), is keen to return to normal life, according to reliable sources within the security apparatus here. They informed that Barua had established contacts with security forces and demanded "political rehabilitation" in exchange for his surrender. Barua has also established contact with GK Pillai, joint secretary, Union ministry of home affairs, the sources said, adding that the ULFA leader had already shifted base from Bangladesh to Myanmar. "All we can tell you at present is...

GUWAHATI, July 21 - While anti-insurgency operations under the Unified Command is focussed on curbing activities of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) and Bodoland Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF), several militant outfits have geared up their activities in two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar capitalising on alleged laxity on part of the State Government to step up operations against them. Sources in Karbi Anglong said geared-up activities of Karbi National Volunteers (KNV) and Karbi People's Force (KPF) in the district and...

Guwahati, July 17: The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has drawn up an exhaustive plan for launching major offensives, including bomb blasts, during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Assam even as it conspires to sabotage troop movement from here to Kargil. Official sources said here on Saturday quoted the ULFA western unit women's wing leader Minati Sutradhar alias Nizara Medhi as stating that the militants were undergoing intensive training on detonation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and were instructed to remain prepared for any situation during the hustings...

Guwahati, July 15: The banned militant outfit Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) has unilaterally decided to suspend its Operation Orgeng with immediate effect "to honour the sovereignty of the country" and urged the Centre to invite it for talks to amicably solve the vexed Bodo problem. In a press release to the local media here on Wednesday night, the BLT publicity wing in-charge Tulunga Ramchiary said the decision was taken in view of the country currently facing a national crisis. It said Pakistan's ISI and other anti-national separatist forces are taking advantage of the situation to work...

Guwahati, July 13: Unabated extortion by several militant outfits operating in the state has posed a serious threat to the economy, if any, of the state. Of late many business organisations have shifted their base from the state to Siliguri and other places to escape the huge extortion demands from extremist outfits. It is a known fact that various central organisations operating in the state are also receiving demands from militants as well as a section of armed miscreants. The field operations of many such central organisations have been brought to a grinding halt depriving the common people...