Three weeks after the ULFA unleashed a wave of attacks killing 71 migrant labourers in Assam, the army has launched special area domination patrols in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Golaghat and Sibsagar districts to keep ULFA militants on the defensive.

The army is also assisting in the activation of peace committees in the areas to build up the confidence of non-Assamese labourers to prevent a possible communal backlash.

Since the attacks on January 5, army operations in the area have resulted in the killing of 11 militants, including eight from the ULFA. Of the 40 militants apprehended by the army since that time, 31 belonged to the outfit. Two ULFA operatives even surrendered to the army. Army helicopters are currently on aerial surveillance missions to track the movement of militants.

Sources in the army’s Eastern Command said that an opinion poll by civil society group Assam Public Works, found that 96 per cent of people were against the ULFA’s sovereignty demand, and that it was likely to have been one of the reasons why the ULFA unleashed such attacks on unarmed labourers.

In the December 15, 2006 edition of the ULFA mouthpiece Freedom, the organisation had expressed its desire to “uproot Assam’s mini-Bihar, mini-Rajasthan and mini-Kolkata”. An analysis also suggested that the army’s crackdown on the ULFA’s 27th battalion last year, had made the group hungry for a backlash, and since it wasn’t equipped enough to confront security forces, it turned its weapons on labourers instead.