Ulfa-I owns up to attack on Army patrol team in Tinsukia

GUWAHATI: Ulfa (I) on Tuesday claimed that it had carried out the ambush against a patrol party of the Army on Monday in Assam’s Tinsukia district, indicating that the unilateral ceasefire announced by the banned outfit in May, 2021 is no longer in operation.
Security sources said, “They have been extending their ceasefire every three months since May last year. After January, they have not said that they are extending it, which means that the unilateral truce has ceased to exist.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Ulfa (I) said the ambush, codenamed ‘Operation Lakhipathar’, was undertaken to mark ‘Protest Day’, which the militant organisation observes on November 28. The ‘Protest Day’ of Ulfa (I) marks the launch of ‘Operation Bajrang’ against the militant outfit by the Army in 1990.
The Army patrol team was ambushed first with an IED and then firing on the Pengeri-Digboi Road in the Barpathar area on Monday morning. Police said there were reports of movement of about five to six Ulfa (I) cadres in the area and at least one of them was injured in retaliatory firing by Army personnel.
An armoured mine protected vehicle of the Army was seen with a punctured tyre due to the IED explosion but there were no reports of any casualty or injury. The fleeing militants have left behind a remote device, batteries, wires and food.
Ulfa (I) claimed that the attack led to damage of the MPV and injuries to several security personnel. The militant organisation did not mention about any injury to its cadres.
This is the first incident by the outfit in the state this year. Last year in August, the outfit, along with the Myanmar-based NSCN-K(YA), injured a JCO of the Army in an attack at an Army camp at Pangsau Pass in Arunachal Pradesh.