Assam: Ulfa(I) using school children to plant Improvised Explosive Devices
The adolescent school children one studying in class IX and second in class X were handed over five IEDs.
Guwahati: The anti-talks faction of Ulfa(I) is found to have been using school children for the first time to plant Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) in Eastern Assam.
Disclosing that five IEDs blasts that rocked Assam — just a day before the Indepen-dence Day — were planted by two school children, security sources told this newspaper on Wednesday adding that the police have picked up two school children from Kakojan village under Philobari police station in Eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district.
Informing that these children have been sent to a remand home, security sources pointed out that four-Ulfa (I) rebels took these children to forest areas on August 10 where one of the Ulfa (I) commanders identified as Rupam Asom explained them as to how to connect the timer device circuit to the explosives.
The adolescent school children — one studying in class IX and second in class X — were handed over five IEDs and were asked to plant one of them at Dooma Dooma police station and another in the market area, security sources said.
Pointing out that these children kept the IEDs at their home at least for three days, security sources said that children, instead of planting these explosives at defined places like Doom Dooma police station and market area, planted it at some isolated locations.
There have been instances of Ulfa(I) rebels using school children to deliver extortion notices, sources said that it was for the first time that militants were found to have been using school children to plant IEDs in Assam.
Admitting that carrying and keeping these IEDs at home itself was very risky, security sources said and added that fortunately school children could not gather courage to plant these IEDs in crowded market places.
Informing that security agencies are trying to identify three other Ulfa(I) cadres who were involved in process of luring the school children, sources said that police had inputs on the presence of hardcore Ulfa(I) leader Rupam Asom in the area.
He is also suspected to have been the mastermind of killing two Hindi-speaking people in the same area. The Ulfa(I) had triggered an IED blast in 2004 in which at least 13 women and children were killed in Dhemaji.