Over 200 Ulfa militants cross over

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Over 200 Ulfa militants cross over from Burma

By Manoj Anand
The Asian Age newspaper (New Delhi)

Guwahati, Feb. 9: More than 200 heavily-armed militants belonging to the
banned United Liberation Front of Asom have managed to come across the
border into India from their camps in Burma, and are reported to be
trying to set up camps in the Lakhipathar area of Upper Assam.

Police sources told The Asian Age here on Wednesday that these
terrorists have taken shelter in different parts of Tinsukia, Golaghat
and Dibrugarh districts. Quoting intelligence reports, the sources said
the state government had had categorically asked the Army to intensify
counter-insurgency operations in these districts, where it had remained
inactive for the last few months.

The sources said that the recent spurt in extortion notices to tea
planters and other businessmen in the state, which had set off a wave of
panic in the gardens in particular, was a direct fallout of this
cross-border incursion. The state government, these sources in the
police claimed, had been trained in Burma by tribal guerrillas of the
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang faction). Sources said
that at lease 200 more newly recruited youths were still receiving arms
training at camps in Burma. The sources added that these men had,
however, largely failed to carry out their mission of terror because
they lacked motivation and were largely demoralised. The cadres of the
?28th battalion? are being led by three men: Jeevan Moran, Antu Chaudang
and Ramu Mech. They are advanced communications gear, including a
recently-acquired satellite telephone. Ulfa cadres had earlier received
training from men of the Kachin Independent Army, one of the major rebel
groups in Burma, but the outfit had stopped training the Ulfa men since
1996, the sources said.

The newly-trained militants are reported to have entered Assam through
Nagaland and are yet to set up their bases in the state. In view of the
intensive Army patrolling along the border with Bhutan, the outfit has
started pressing in these men from the ?28th battalion? into its
operations, sources said. Ulfa has three battalions of cadres, two of
which are stationed at its headquarters in Bhutan.