GUWAHATI: Security across Eastern Assam has been beefed up after suspected militants of Paresh Baruah faction of banned United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) gunned down two Hindi-speaking people and injured as many others of the community at Pengeri in Tinsukia district on Tuesday night.
The police on Wednesday arrested an Ulfa militant, Kanu Khonikar, in the state’s Sonitpur district. He told the police that he along with four other Ulfa rebels had sneaked into the state from Myanmar. He said they were assigned to carry out subversive activities by their leaders.
The Ulfa and several other insurgent groups of the NorthEast operate from the soil of the neighbouring country.
“The threat perception is there. But we are on alert to thwart any attack,” a senior police official told Express.
The police said two suspected Ulfa militants, who came on a two-wheeler, shot dead local trader Nandlal Shah and injured three members of his family.
Shah’s daughter Kajol, who was among the injured, succumbed to injuries on way to the hospital. The families of Shah and his brother live together in the house.
“The militants identified themselves as paramilitary troopers. Moments after they arrived, they opened indiscriminate fire from close range and fled,” a relative of Shah told reporters.
The police said the motive behind the killing was not known but the locals claimed the Ulfa had demanded money from Shah. Recently, the insurgent group sent extortion demands to traders across Eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
The latest attack by the outfit, which has targeted Hindi-speaking people over the years, resonated in the national capital where the All Assam Marwari Parishad petitioned the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) demanding security for the Hindi-speaking people in Assam.