Dibrugarh, July 10: Ulfa today lost three men and one of its operational bases in the dense jungles of Manabhum in Arunachal Pradesh as the army moved in for the kill in Assam and beyond.

One militant was killed when troops overran a camp in Manabhum forest reserve this morning. The army estimates that at least 100 militants are holed up in four camps spread across the forest. Two more Ulfa members were killed in shootouts with security forces in Nalbari district of Lower Assam.

A senior officer of the 19 Kumaon Regiment said Operation Manabhum was launched on the basis of information gleaned from various sources. “We had specific inputs about the presence of a camp in a particular portion of the forest reserve and we mobilised our troops for the operation last night itself. As our men were approaching the location, they came under fire. One of the militants died in the encounter, which lasted for half-an-hour.”

A self-loading rifle, 50 rounds of assorted ammunition, 20 electronic detonators, a solar charger, clothing, dry rations and medicines were found at the camp.

Going by the quantity of dry rations and sleeping arrangements, there were six or seven militants in the busted camp. The same army unit had overrun an Ulfa camp on June 16 and found a satellite phone there. Two days later, the army killed a militant, Rudra Bora, in another part of the Manabhum reserve forest.

Pursued by security forces across Upper Assam, more and more Ulfa militants have been taking refuge in the reserve forest.

Ulfa has lost several senior functionaries — Charan Majhi, Debojit Konwar and Rajen Dutta are three of them — in recent times. In Arunachal Pradesh, the army’s biggest success was killing eight Ulfa members in a single operation in the first half of April.

A senior army official from 2 Mountain Division, based at Dinjan in Tinsukia district, said Operation Manabhum would continue till all militants were flushed out from the forest.

An intelligence agency reported that Ulfa shifted the advanced headquarters of its 28 Battalion from the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park to Manabhum recently.

The army has now moved the 11 Sikh Light Infantry, which had been operating in Sadiya subdivision of Tinsukia district, to Namsai circle of Lohit district to put more pressure on Ulfa.

Sources said the army’s main objective was to capture or eliminate Ulfa hitmen Prabal Neog, Jiten Dutta, Ujjwal Gohain and Pranjal Saikia, all from the 28 Battalion.

The 28 Battalion held its Raising Day programme in Manabhum on April 7. It is estimated that around 100 members of the unit were there on that day.