Security forces recover IED from an ULFA cadre in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: Guwahati, northeast India’s financial hub, had a close shave as security forces managed to recover an improvised explosive device ( IED) of about one kg from an anti-talk United Liberation Front of Assam( ULFA) militant on Saturday.

According to Assam police, ULFA cadre Dipak Rava was arrested from Jharpara village in Kamrup district, about 50 km west of the city, by a joint team comprising the police, army intelligence and CRPF.

“The IED was meant for Guwahati,” said people familiar with the development within the police department.

There’s a crush of pilgrims who have gathered in Guwahati from across the country and abroad for the four-day Ambubachi festival which begins on June 22. Rava was arrested in the past from Azara carrying extortion money worth Rs 8.5 lakh on him; he was later released on bail. He is a close associate of senior ULFA leaders Dhristi Rajkhowa and Hari Nath Rava.

Intelligence agencies have inputs that ULFA (Independent) or anti-talk ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah has asked senior leader Dhristi Rajkhowa to carry out strikes in Assam.

The Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), anti-talk ULFA, NDFB-S, Kamatapur Liberation Organisation have come together to fight against the India forces. They have floated a platform along the lines of the erstwhile Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front, which is called the United National Liberation Front of WESEA (UNLFW).