Four Assam police commandos were injured in an attack by the proscribed ULFA (Independent) in Tinsukia district early on Sunday, prompting a joint operation by police and central forces.
The attack on the 4th Assam Police Commando Battalion camp at Jagun took place around 2.30am. Jagun is about 70km from Tinsukia town near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
A group of around seven militants reportedly fired multiple rocket-propelled grenades at the camp. Five grenades exploded, triggering retaliatory firing by the commandos. The attackers fled towards Arunachal Pradesh after a brief exchange of fire, sources said.
“ULFA (I) has claimed responsibility for the attack. We have launched a joint operation involving Assam and Arunachal Pradesh police, CRPF and Assam Rifles,” a police official told The Telegraph.
The attack comes ahead of the April 9 Assembly elections, with ULFA (I) claiming it was carried out under “Operation Bujoni”.
The outfit, the only major armed group in Assam not engaged in peace talks, said it had refrained from attacking the state police as a goodwill gesture following chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s peace overtures in 2021. It is alleged that continued operations against its cadres triggered Sunday’s strike.
Tinsukia is among three districts in Assam where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, remains in force, along with Sivasagar and Charaideo.
The injured commandos — Robi Garg, Jimbus Marak, Debasish Bora and Chittaranjan Mili — were taken to Dibrugarh Medical College and Hospital. Their condition is stated to be stable.
The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was formed on April 7, 1979, in Sivasagar with the demand for a sovereign Assam. Its pro-talks faction signed a tripartite peace agreement with the Centre and state government on December 29, 2023.
However, ULFA (I), led by Paresh Baruah, has rejected peace overtures, insisting that sovereignty must be on the agenda for any talks.
In 2023, ULFA (I) carried out three blasts in Upper Assam districts — Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Jorhat — near or outside army installations to demonstrate its operational capability. The outfit is estimated to have around 300 cadres.
In 2024, it claimed to have planted bombs at 24 locations across Assam on Independence Day, though none exploded. Ten cases were registered.
In November 2025, senior leader Arunodoy Dohutia surrendered along the Indo-Myanmar border. The NIA had earlier chargesheeted him and Baruah over a 2023 attack.