Security forces gunned down two hardcore militants of the banned militant outfits — The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) — in Goalpara District that is located on the Assam-Meghalaya border on Sunday.
Superintendent of Police, Goalpara, Shyamal Saikia, said: “So far, one person has not been identified; another person has been identified as a GNLA (Garo National Liberation Army) cadre, because we recovered the outfit's I-card from his bag. The other person is suspected to be an ULFA cadre but he has not been formally identified yet."
According to media reports, other militants of the outfits managed to flee and enter Meghalaya.
Saikia said security forces had recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from the slain militants.
“Among the arms and ammunitions, we have recovered a 7.5 pistol, a 9mm pistol, live ammunitions and also about 52 detonators from the site and three bundles of cordex and also three mobile sets. The writing pads belonging to both, ULFA and GNLA have been found. Since one person has been identified as GNLA cadre and since there is a demand note from the ULFA, we have assumed the other person to be an ULFA cadre,” said Saikia.
Search operations have been launched along the border area to nab the absconding militants.
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is the top militant group fighting in the country's remote northeast.
The ULFA is one of the deadliest separatist groups in the northeast, and progress in resolving the insurgency, which has been a drain on resources.
Separatist movements have riddled India's remote northeast region for decades.
Thousands have died in three decades of violence since ULFA was formed in 1979 in Assam, demanding independence from India, which it accused of plundering the region's mineral and agricultural resources, but public support for the group has sagged recently.
Assam has been a focus of a separatist insurgency for decades, but it has also recently suffered bomb attacks by alleged Islamist militants operating from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Ringed by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, India's northeast is home to more than 200 tribes and has been racked by separatist revolts since India gained independence.
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