Two suspected terrorists, part of Al-Qaeda affiliate group, nabbed in Assam: Police

Guwahati: Two suspected members of a 'sleeper cell' of a terror network have been apprehended along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Assam's Kokrajhar district, police said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, Special Director General of Police Harmeet Singh said the Special Task Force (STF), along with Kokrajhar District Police, carried out an operation in Namapara area on Tuesday night and nabbed the two persons.

"The team, led by STF Inspector General Parthasarathi Mahanta, achieved a huge success in averting a possible major terror act by the Jihadi elements of a global terrorist organisation. We seized huge war-like stores from them," he added.

The duo were 'sleeper cell' members of a network, having links with the Bangladesh-based Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which is an affiliate of the Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Singh said.

He said that the operation was part of the ongoing multi-state exercise -- Operation Praghat.

On the intervening night of December 17-18, the Assam Police arrested eight suspected terrorists, including one Bangladeshi, in coordinated inter-state operations and busted an attempt to set up 'sleeper cells' to carry subversive activities across the country.