By IANS,
Guwahati : Four separatist rebels were killed Sunday in a gunfight with army soldiers in Assam, officials said.
An army official said the four militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) were killed at Balijangranth village in Sivasagar district, about 360 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
“Based on specific intelligence inputs, an army column reached the village looking for a group of five ULFA militants who were forcibly taking shelter at a house,” an army commander said requesting not to be named.
The ULFA rebels opened fire on the soldiers and in retaliatory strikes four of them died.
“One of the rebels managed to escape although a hunt is on to nab him,” the official said,
Army soldiers later recovered an AK 56 assault rifle, a carbine, four grenades, besides a large quantity of ammunition from the dead militants.
“Our information is that the ULFA group was trying to sneak into Sivasagar town to carry out a major strike,” the army official said.
The ULFA is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland since 1979.