The Assam police on September 18 gunned down two members of a new extremist group in a region where peace was said to have returned.
Special DGP (Law & Order) G.P. Singh said a camp of the United Liberation of Bodoland (ULB) was busted in the Ultapani area in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district. The district is one of four under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
“Two cadres have been declared dead after an exchange of fire between the security forces and the terrorists,” he said, adding two pistols and eight grenades were recovered from the site of the encounter.
The ULB was unheard of until a few days ago when its formation was announced through a video featuring a few masked men in battle fatigues. One of them, purported to be the leader, said they formed the group to fight for a separate Bodoland State.
The BTR pact signed by the disbanded factions of the extremist National Democratic Front of Boroland and the Centre on January 27, 2020, was a raw deal for the Bodo people who have been fighting for statehood for decades, he said.
He also warned of killing officials and triggering blasts across Assam besides exacting revenge for every Bodo youth the police would kill by branding him or her as a ULB member
Chief of Bodoland Territorial Council Pramod Boro was also a signatory to the accord. After this accord, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that peace had returned to the Bodo-inhabited areas of Assam.