Assam bleeds before Assembly polls; 8 BSF jawans killed, 5 Congress men injured

Assam bleeds again. Bombs and bullets threatens to bury the hope of peace in the poll bound state. After a brief silence, the anti-talk faction of NDFB and ULFA roared again. Eight BSF personnel were killed and 5 Congress men have been injured in two seperate strike by the banned insurgent outfit on Monday.

At least eight BSF personnel were killed and the same number injured on Monday in an ambush by the anti-talk faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland in Kokrajhar district. Th e Bodo outfit used automatic weapons to ambush the convoy of the BSF in remote Ultapani forest area near the Indo-Bhutan border.

The BSF jawans were killed on the spot, five others succumbed to their injuries on way to hospital. Some of the eight injured jawans were rushed to the Hospital at Bongaigaon, while others were taken to Kokrajhar civil hospital for treatment. The deceased have been identified as Bijoy Kumar, S K Sharma, Arabinda Dere, Bolaram Lamba, Santa Ramthree, Naresh Kumar, Kuber Bora and Hira Singh.

A combing operation have been launched by the security forces, including the Army along the Indo-Bhutan border, to nab the culprits. The patrol was on way from Bangladoba in Chirang district of Assam to Ultapani in Kokrajhar when it was ambushed.

Hours after this attack, ULFA lobbed a powerful EID at the Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati leaving 5 perosns injured. The incident took place at around 6-55 in the evening with a huge sound when party spokesman Mehdi Alom Bora was sitting at his chamber. Kalyan Gogoi, Akhsyay Rajkhowa and Ranjan Bora were also left injured in the blast. Mehdi Alom Bora’s condition is critical who is undergoing treatment at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who arrived in Guwahati from Delhi rushed to the GMCH immediately after the incident and visited the injured persons. Gogoi also visited the incident spot and instructed the district administration to firmly deal with the situation. Several other political parties also have criticized the banned insurgent outfit for the blast.

Meanwhile, ULFA has claimed the responsibilities of the blast and threatened to continue these attack. In an e-mail statement sent to media, Commander in Chief Paresh Baruah said that this attach is simply a message to Congress. The blast took place a day after the ruling party announced the names of 118 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls.

It may be noted that ULFA threatened to target the Congress parties in rank and file for splitting the outfit. But the government downplayed the threat.