Army commandos on ULFA trail

Guwahati, Oct 7 (UNI): The Army have airdropped commandos inside Dibru-Saikhowa Rain Forest Reserve and National park in Tinsukia district of Asom to corner ULFA militants, suspected to have taken shelter inside it.

A defence source informed that commandos were airdropped yesterday to give a fillip to the ongoing flushout operation launched by the ground troops in the thick forest areas after resumption of Army operation following breakdown in the peace initiative to bring the banned ULFA to negotiation.

The operation is not confined only to Dibru-Saikhowa, but spread over a bigger area across the forest cover along Asom-Arunachal and Asom-Nagaland borders in three Upper Assam districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar.

The Army personnel carrying out the operation yesterday killed an important ULFA leader of the outfit's 28th battalion Debojit Knowar at Borhat in Sivasagar district. The Army also apprehended several suspected ULFA militant so far during the intensified operation in forest areas.

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park located along Assam-Arunachal border has been virtually converted into an operation base by the 28th battalion of the ULFA to carry out extortion and subversions in Upper Assam areas. The forest spills to Arunachal Pradesh and hence provides an escape route to ULFA cadres involved in violence in Asom.

The Army had launched a massive combing operation in the national park during September last year against the ULFA and managed to kill and corner several hardcore cadres of the group.

However, the operation had to be called off in the wake of the ULFA naming its group of negotiators, Peoples Consultative Group (PCG), to prepare ground for talks with the Union government.

UNI XC KK RN1457