By IANS,
Guwahati : A day after gunning down four Maoists, Assam Police Thursday said they were closely coordinating with security forces in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh to contain the Maoist menace in the state.
In the first shoot-out with Maoists, police and security forces Wednesday gunned down the four rebels in remote and underdeveloped Sadiya subdivision in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on the border with Arunachal Pradesh.
A senior state police official said that operations are on to find out probable bases of the Maoists in the district.
“There are strong possibilities that the Maoist cadres have set up some bases in the district or in the neigbouring state,” said the official.
There have also been intelligence inputs that Maoist cadres have started a massive recruitment drive in some districts of upper Assam and trying to expand their base.
“We are working in close coordination with the forces in Arunachal Pradesh. There are reports that the Maoists have set up some bases and training camps in the Manbhum reserve forests in Arunachal Pradesh,” said the official.
“However, we are waiting for some confirmation. The possibility of Maoists setting up training camps cannot be ruled out as the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) had done that earlier. The dense forests of the Manbhum reserve forest could be of multiple use to them,” he said.