Bodo separatists planning terror strikes in Assam: police

GUWAHATI - More than 100 tribal separatists belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) have entered India’s northeastern state of Assam from bases in Bangladesh for terror strikes, officials Monday said.

“The NDFB militants have fled bases in Bangladesh and entered Assam with the prime objective of striking terror, mainly carrying out bombings,” Inspector General of Assam Police (Law and Order) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told IANS.

The militants are now scattered across five Assam districts — Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Sonitpur.

“They have been making desperate attempts to strike terror, but so far we have been able to foil all their designs following a coordinated security offensive,” the official said.

At least 10 NDFB militants were arrested in the past week and two killed in separate raids in Assam — five of the arrests were made from the Guwahati railway station Sunday, while three women cadres were arrested from a bus with a large cache of arms and explosives in the eastern town of Jakhalabandh.

“The NDFB militants have also stepped up kidnappings in some areas for money,” Mahanta said.

At least five businessmen were abducted in separate incidents during the past 10 days from various parts of northern Assam.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the NDFB was once again trying to set up bases in Bhutan.

“The NDFB is facing the heat from security forces in the border areas and hence we have reports they are trying to set up bases inside Bhutan,” said M.K. Gehlot, commander of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The SSB guards the 605-km-long India-Bhutan border in Assam.

The NDFB, a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in western Assam, was evicted from the Himalayan nation in 2003 after Bhutan launched Operation All Clear — a military offensive that led to separatist groups like the NDFB, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO), fleeing Bhutan.