Two key ULFA financiers eliminated in Bangladesh

KOLKATA, March 29: Indian anti-insurgency forces eliminated two key financiers of the United Liberation Force of Asom and seriously injured another person handling ULFA funds in Bangladesh in three different encounters in the capital city of Dhaka in last Friday. Four gunmen shot Mohammed Reza Jahangir, a businessman dealing in prawn and shrimps and a close-aide of ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, in the posh Shyamali Ring Road area in Dhaka at around 3.30 pm on Friday afternoon. Later in the day, another of Baruah's financier's and owner of a garment factory, Saleem, suffered 60 per cent burn injuries as his factory in Mirpur area was set on fire by unknown assailants. Confirming these incidents, a Bangladesh home ministry official told TheNewspaperToday that in yet another incident on Friday, a shootout took place in the MukhtiJodha Club, one of Dhaka's top football clubs, in the evening where two persons were killed. "One of them was an ULFA militant and the other one was from the group which started the firing. The latter's body was dumped in Motizheel commercial area," he said. "We have managed to infiltrate the inner security ring of Paresh Baruah and we are in the process of eliminating some of his trusted lieutenants," an Indian intelligence officer said on condition of anonymity. This is the third encounter targeting ULFA men in Bangladesh since December last year. Baruah had an alleged lucky escape on March 1 when a crack team of Indian security forces attacked his vehicle in Dhaka. Baruah, however, lost his right-hand man in Bangladesh, Hossain Rumy. Rumy was the ULFA front man in Bangladesh in whose bank account all ULFA funds were being deposited. The attack was carried out by trained surrendered-ULFA (SULFA) cadres and some hired assailants from Bangladesh who were being guided by Indian security personnel. TheNewspaperToday was the first to report the attack on Paresh Baruah on December 15 in Bangladesh where two hardcore separatist ULFA guerillas were killed and one seriously injured in an ambush by an armed group on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Baruah is hiding in Bangladesh along with his colleague and co-founder of ULFA, Rajiv Konwar better known as Aurobindo Rajkhowa. Indian counter-insurgency forces are desperately trying to put a full-stop on the ULFA movement which seems to have lost the mass support which it used to enjoy in Assam. More than 100 people belonging to Hindi-speaking communities have been massacred in Assam since October 2000 by suspected ULFA militants, with the main target being the Marwari community from Rajasthan and the Biharis, both of whom control the bulk of trade and commerce in Assam.