ULFA attacks tea garden; torch vehicles

After lying low for the last two years since one of its factions declared unilateral ceasefire, United Liberation Front of Asom militants attacked a tea planter and a garden employee and torched vehicles in upper Assam along Arunachal Pradesh.

Official sources on Friday said a group of about 12 ULFA insurgents belonging to the 28th battalion armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols stormed the office of Luit Tea Company at Bijulibon, under Pengeri police station of Tinsukia district on Thursday.

The rebels fired five rounds in the air, threatened and assaulted garden manager Sadhan Kumar Tamuli and an employee Bhaskarjyoti Changmai Phukan, they said.

The militants then set ablaze a car, two transport trucks and a motorcycle before fleeing. Luit Tea Company had received an extortion note from the ULFA about four months ago, a company official said on condition of anonymity.

The ULFA's strike force 28th battalion was on a resurgence since last month, demanding early settlement of the vexed peace talks. Officials suspect that Thursday's attack was a show of strength and reaction to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement before the media in Delhi on June 30 that the government would have to wait for the court's decision on the release of the jailed ULFA leaders.

The banned outfit has been targeting the tea sector for extortion since last month, including on June 17 when they attacked Bajrangpur tea estate.

On June 28, the extremists kidnapped garden manager Karanbir Sarma from his residence at Nampong in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh. The sources said that intelligence reports said a heavily armed group of ULFA led by Arindam Saharia alias Bijoy Kalita was carrying out extortion activities along the inter-state boundary.