ULFA ambush claims two, four others critical

Guwahati, Apr 26 (UNI) Two Army jawans died today while four were stated to be in critical condition after they were injured in ULFA's ambush yesterday at Chowkham in Arunachal Pradesh, even as the outfit claimed that 12 jawans were killed in the attack.

A security source said six jawans of the 581 Light Infantry (Artillery) were seriously injured when ULFA militants exploded an IED on the road just when the Army vehicle was passing at Nangho, around 12 km from Chowkham police station in Lohit district in Arunachal Pradesh at around 1630 hrs yesterday.

Soon after the blast, the ULFA militants started indiscriminate firing on the jawans.

Two of the injured jawans, identified as Havildar Jasbir Singh and Kashmir Singh, succumbed to their injuries.

Four others - Subedar Dilwar Singh, Nayaks Indrajit Singh, Avtar Singh and Gurjinder Singh - were undergoing treatment. They were stated to be in critical condition.

Yesterday, the commander of the 'Charlie Company' of ULFA's 28th battalion Jiten Dutta claimed that 12 jawans were killed in the ambush, the first major strike by the outfit since eight of its cadres were gunned down by the Army at Tikribam in the same district on April 10.

Last week, the Army had claimed that it had 'broken the backbone of ULFA's 28th battalion', the main strike force of the outfit, in a massive crackdown in the jungles on upper Asom and Arunachal Pradesh after the ULFA killed over 80 people in upper Asom in separate strikes in the first week of January this year.

UNI