Ulfa (I) uses children to plant IEDs with smartphone timers

After lying low for several months, the Paresh Baruah-led anti-talks faction of the Ulfa has hit back. This time around, the security forces have been foxed since the group has allegedly used children to plant powerful Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with touchscreen smartphones as timers.

On Thursday, a ten-member National Security Guard (NSG) bomb disposal squad from New Delhi was rushed to Tinsukia to examine an IED, planted by Ulfa (I) to blow up the Samdang Bridge near Doomdooma of Tinsukia district on Independence Day.

The IEDs were spotted after two students from Kakojan area in Tinsukia were detained by the police on Tuesday for allegedly planting the IEDs in different locations before and after Independence Day. The children were detained during a raid conducted late on Tuesday night but the men who had lured them into planting the IEDs managed to escape.

“The boys spotted an IED, which was planted by them at Samdang Bridge on Phillobari-Badlabata bypass in Doomdooma. Experts from the Assam police and Indian Army tried to diffuse the bomb. Now, the NSG team has taken over the operation. A latest technology driven IED, a smartphone has been used as timer,” Superintendent of Police of Tinsukia M J Dev Mahanta told DH over telephone.

At the time of filing this report, the NSG team had cordoned off the area and was trying to diffuse the IED. The place is about 520 km from Guwahati. Security forces launched a massive manhunt for Ulfa (I) operatives in the jungles of Charaipung reserve forest.