Army has almost broken backbone of ULFA: Lt Gen Chhabra

Guwahati, Apr 20 (UNI) The Army has almost broken the backbone of the proscribed ULFA after its deadly strikes in January which claimed about 80 lives, a top officer said today.

''After its heinous strikes in January which killed around 80 people, most of them Hindi-speaking, in upper Asom, we have hemmed in on the outfit's bases. The outfit's backbone is almost broken now. They are trying to flee the state,'' GOC of the Tezpur-based 4 Corps Lt Gen RK Chhabra told reporters here.

In all likelihood, the cadres may make attempts to sneak into Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland or even the neighbouring Myanmar, General Chhabra said.

The Army claimed to have either mowed down or apprehended around 40 of the nearly 50 ULFA militants who carried out the strikes in upper Asom in the first week of January.

At least 51 militants were killed, 553 (including linkmen) arrested, while another 29 surrendered in Asom since this January.

''It is an old tactic of militants to flee the state they are operating in once they are under pressure. We are communicating with the police of Arunachal Pradesh. They are cooperating in the anti-insurgency operations,'' General Chhabra said.

Incidentally, a few days after eight top cadres of the ULFA were killed by the Army at Tikribam in Arunachal Pradesh's Lohit district on April 10, suspected militants of the outfit triggered a grenade attack at Namsai, just 20 km from the area, in Arunachal, injuring two persons.

The Army has choked the supplies of essential commodities and medical aid to the Manabhum Reserve Forest of Arunachal Pradesh.

The ULFA is learnt to have established camps inside the inaccessible dense jungles of Manabhum.

''We are ensuring that any kind of aid, including money, does not reach the militants holed up inside the forest areas.

Everything that might help them in carrying out strikes have been choked,'' he said.

Admitting that difficult terrain in the forest areas of Asom and Arunachal are hampering the anti-insurgency operations, the Army asserted that there was no question of being soft with the ULFA.

''The 43 days in August and September last during which the operations remained suspended, were used by the ULFA for regrouping. As a result, you see the heinous strikes in January in upper Asom. There is no question of leniency, given that they are not worth trusting,'' the GOC pointed out.

The Army further said to check cross-border movement of militants, they were in constant touch with the security forces of Myanmar. ''They are pushing back the militants to India as much as possible,'' he added.

UNI