The security forces have claimed to have dealt a major blow to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent by killing one of its top ‘commanders’ in an encounter in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district on Thursday.
Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, Assam’s Director-General of Police, said the outfit’s self-styled ‘colonel’ Dwipen Saud “appears dead with bullet injury” following an encounter. While the police took him to a hospital to ascertain his death, one of his aides, identified as ‘gunman’ Padum Rai, was caught along with a weapon.
The 52-year-old Saud had joined the ULFA-I in 1988 and was made the outfit’s ‘Western Command’ chief. He had replaced the outfit’s former deputy commander-in-chief Drishti Rajkhowa, who surrendered in November 2020.
“We had intel that ULFA Western Command was planning some high-profile kidnapping in collaboration with other anti-India forces which now appears to be foiled. Today’s successful operation is due to high-quality police intel input that worked out precisely for on-ground action,” Mr. Mahanta tweeted.
Members of the ULFA-I had abducted three employees of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited from eastern Assam’s Charaideo district on April 21. The security forces rescued two of the three employees from Nagaland’s Mon district while they were being taken to Myanmar.
The search is still on for the third employee, Ritul Saikia. More than 500 Nagaland villagers have joined the combing operation.
