GUWAHATI: Unidentified assailants ambushed a three-vehicle convoy of the Assam Rifles, leaving a jawan injured.
The attack was carried out in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on Tuesday morning.
Defence spokesman Lt Col Mahendra Rawat said the three vehicles were moving from Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh towards Margherita in Assam when unknown persons ambushed Namdhang at around 08:30 am.
“The troops retaliated and thwarted the ambush. In the process, one person sustained gunshot wounds. The individual has been evacuated to the Military Hospital in Jorhat and his condition is stable,” the spokesman added.
In a statement, the Paresh Baruah faction of the insurgent group United Liberation Front of Assam claimed responsibility. The outfit said the attack, “Operation Pratisodh” (revenge), was carried out in memory of its two fallen members.
“Several vehicles of the ‘occupational forces’ were damaged and many soldiers were grievously injured,” the ULFA claimed.
The attack was carried out hours after Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement in Manipur on Monday that the Northeast had been infested with the problem of insurgency and separatism for 75 years but Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government brought peace by signing more than 10 peace accords.