Army tracks Bodo ultras' leader

Intelligence agencies have tracked the location of Songbijit Brahma, the self-styled commander of the militant outfit National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit).

Armed with the input, the Army and Central security forces have also stepped up operation in the area.

Sources said Songbijit's cellphone was tracked to Jaigaon near the Indo-Bhutan border in West Bengal on Saturday night. “He was talking to some of his lieutenants, planning further attacks on tribal villages close to the Bhutan border in Assam to divert the attention of the security forces so that his men could escape,” said sources. Since receiving the intelligence input, the Army has been making efforts to sanitise the area.

“Attempts are on to clear the corridor the militants use to move around from Sonitpur in upper Assam through Bhalukpong via Manas along the Bhutan border to West Bengal through the reserve forests of Buxa and Chapramari. This corridor gives them easy access all the way to Mahananda forest in north Bengal,” said a senior official.

Operations have been continuing since Saturday night, and the security forces have been able to make major inroads into the area.

Officials are hopeful of even tracking Songbijit's exact location and the movement of his troops, and capturing some of the militant leaders.

However, they are yet to reach the area where Songbijit is believed to be holed up due to the terrain.

While Army operations are under way in full swing at Sonitpur, Kokrajhar and Chirang districts, commandos trained in jungle warfare and counter-insurgency continued to comb the reserve forests in the region, which the militants use to escape towards Bhutan and Myanmar.

Security forces are particularly active in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri districts, which fall under the Bodoland Territorial Area District.

Operations, and also along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in Sonitpur.
Meanwhile, the situation in the three districts affected by the ethnic clashes seemed to have improved.

While tension remained even on Sunday, life was limping back to normalcy in some places, particularly in urban centres like Kokrajhar town.

Keeping the situation in mind, the administration decided to relax curfew for a few hours on Sunday, although the night curfew from 7 pm to 7 am would continue.
However, tension persisted in the rest of the district, particularly in areas where tribal villages were attacked on December 23,and areas of Sonitpur, where tribals retaliated against the Bodo militants. 

There has been no fresh case of violence or bloodshed in either Kokrajhar or Sonitpur, which have accounted for most of the deaths since December 23.