Digboi: Four commandos of the Assam Police were injured, one of them seriously, after suspected cadres of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom – Independent (ULFA-I) attacked an Assam Police Commando Battalion camp at 10th Mile in Jagun, Tinsukia, in the wee hours of Sunday.
Several rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were fired towards the camp followed by heavy exchange of automatic fire. A massive search operation has since been launched by security forces.
The attack comes barely weeks before Assam goes to the polls on April 9. Officials believe that this was an attempt at disrupting peaceful election-related activity in the state.
While other factions of the ULFA have sought peace, ULFA-I refused to join the talks
with the government.
Officials said that the militants fired 4-5 RPGs at the camp in a swift, coordinated strike carried out from concealed positions around 2 am, before escaping under the cover of darkness.
The four injured personnel have been identified as Chitranjan Milli from Jorhat, Robin Ghosh from Chabua, Dibrugarh, Jimbus Marak from Goalpara, and Devashish Bora from Jorhat, as reported by Northeast Now.
All four are now undergoing treatment at the Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh.
According to locals, the RPG attack was followed by a prolonged exchange of gunfire, indicating a fierce battle between the militants and security forces after the initial strike.
The whole area has been put on high alert as search operations continue. The attack took place along a known militant corridor near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary, close to the country’s border with Myanmar that is porous. The Jagun-Jairampur-Nampong-Manmao stretch has witnessed similar ambushes in the past.
Officials said that the militants may have fled towards Arunachal Pradesh. Security forces in that state have been alerted.