India: “Assam under Terror Offensive”

By Animesh Roul

Originaly published as "India’s Assam State Reels under New Year’s Terrorist Offensive,", Terrorism Focus, (Jamestown Foundation) Vol. 6 (1), January 15, 2009.

An excerpt:
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India’s northeastern state of Assam has endured a series of terrorist incidents, including bomb blasts, attacks on trains, and a fierce gun fight between security forces and terrorists, all within the first ten days of the New Year. On January 1, terrorists suspected of belonging to the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) triggered serial explosions targeting busy market places like the Birubari, Bhootnath, and Bhangagarh areas in Guwahati city, killing five persons and injuring over 50 others (Assam Tribune, January 2). The state police suspected the involvement of ULFA’s 709 Battalion in the serial blasts, though the group denied any responsibility for the attack. Terror visited Guwahati again on the evening of January 9, as suspected ULFA terrorists detonated a bicycle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) near the Northeast Frontier Railways headquarters, close to a busy market in the Maligaon area of the city. Three persons were killed and ten others were injured in the incident (The Telegraph [Kolkata], January 10; News Live TV [Guwahati], January 11).

Forensic investigations into the New Year’s blasts revealed that TNT was used in the bombs (The Telegraph, January 4). The state police have so far arrested as many as 15 persons, including hardcore ULFA cadres, in the ongoing crackdown on terror elements behind the New Year's Day serial blasts in Guwahati. The prize catch for the police was the ULFA’s Sanjeev Talukdar, who reportedly supplied the TNT explosives to the operation’s mastermind Pranjal Deka at the behest of Khagen Kalita. (Assam Tribune, January 5). Pranjal Deka, who along with at least five other ULFA terrorists entered into Guwahahti in late December to perpetrate violence, was killed during an encounter with the army on January 8 in Assam's Halikuchi village (Press Trust of India, January 8). Both Deka and Kalita belonged to the ULFA’s deadly 709 Battalion. The others arrested in connection with the incidents were Imran Choudhury, Hemanta Phukan, Ravinder Singh, and Tarun Kalita. The police also arrested nine distributors and retailers from Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), who had provided SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards to the terror suspects without proper verifications.

Battered by relentless terror strikes, the Assam government adopted a tough anti-terror law under the provisions of the Assam Preventive Detention (Amendment) Bill 2009 on January 10. Under this act, a terrorist suspect can be detained in judicial custody for two years instead of six months (The Hindu, January 10). How far this new law will go in helping combat terror effectively in the state and in the region will be seen in the coming days.

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Animesh Roul is the Executive Director of Research at the New Delhi-based Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (SSPC).