File picture of arms seized from ANLA militants

Guwahati, Dec. 25: Police detained four persons, all suspected to be Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) linkmen, in connection with Tuesday night’s blast on railway tracks at Matipul in Karbi Anglong district.

The commander-in-chief of the outfit, Nirmal Tirki, who was arrested in Jharkhand recently and brought to Assam, has told his interrogators that the bomb used to strike at Rajdhani Express last year was procured from Naga militants.

The police said the men picked up since last night resided in the vicinity of the incident site. “They are being interrogated. We have to wait and see if they have anything to say about the blast,” an official said, adding that operations were on to try and apprehend the perpetrators of Tuesday night’s blasts.

Though the ANLA is the prime suspect, its commander-in-chief, however, denied having information about Tuesday night’s blast. Tirki, who is in police custody in Golaghat, however, accepted that his outfit had carried out the attack on Rajdhani Express in December last year in which five persons were killed.

The blast had occurred soon after the Beltola carnage. He told interrogators today that he had instructed Peter Bang, an area commander of the outfit, to buy the bomb from militant outfits in Nagaland to plant it on the Rajdhani Express last year.

Tirki said he had instructed Peter over phone from Jharkhand that Rajdhani Express should be targeted immediately to avenge the attack on Adivasis at Beltola.

A police officer interrogating Tirki in Golaghat said the militant leader claimed that the outfit did not have bombs in its possession and neither did it have the requisite expertise to make one. It had, therefore, purchased the explosives from Naga militants.

Tirki said the bomb cost the outfit Rs 5 lakh. He said the outfit currently has about 20 active cadres and not more than 15 weapons, which they had bought from Kuki militants at a cost of Rs 5 lakh.

He said the outfit had collected about Rs 1 crore since its formation in 2004. Most of the funds were utilised in purchasing arms and paying Kuki Revolutionary Army for providing training, he added.

The police claimed that members of ANLA could target trains to avenge Tirki’s arrest and have put Karbi Anglong on alert.

“There were intelligence inputs that the outfit would try to target trains soon after Tirki was brought to Assam. But it was difficult to protect the entire portion of the track which passes through deep jungles,” an official based in Bokajan said.

He said security forces had been conducting operations against the outfit at random not only in Karbi Anglong but also in Golaghat district after last year’s blast on Rajdhani Express.