Ulfa strikes back, kills two jawans

Two weeks after the Army killed eight ULFA militants in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, the rebels hit back with an IED blast that claimed the lives of at least two jawans.

Two weeks after the Army killed eight ULFA militants in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, the rebels hit back with an IED blast that claimed the lives of at least two jawans.

Confirming this, a spokesman at the Army’s 4 Corps headquarters at Tezpur said two jawans were killed and four others critically injured after ULFA rebels blew up an army patrol vehicle at Medo in Lohit district on Wednesday evening.

The IED blast was aimed at two vehicles carrying at least 16 army personnel on patrol duty. The blast hit the second vehicle injuring all six occupants. Two of them succumbed to their injuries on way to the 2 Mountain Division headquarters at Dinjan.

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The jawans belonged to the 581 Artillery unit of the Army.

The ULFA, which claimed responsibility for the blast late on Wednesday night, also claimed that at least 12 Army personnel were killed in “a successful operation” carried out by its cadres.

The retaliatory attack came four days after Lt Gen R K Chhabra, GOC of the 4 Corps, claimed that the security forces had broken the backbone of the ULFA by killing eight rebels inside the Manabhum reserved forest in Lohit district on April 10. Security forces have killed 51 ULFA rebels and apprehended 553 militants and overground workers since January.

The ULFA, however, claimed Wednesday’s attack was enough to prove that the outfit still has the power to hit the Army whenever it wanted.