VZCZCXRO1809
PP RUEHBI RUEHCHI RUEHCI RUEHCN
DE RUEHCI #0010/01 0081202
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081202Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL CALCUTTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1338
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1227
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0504
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0504
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 0316
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON PRIORITY 0207
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0012
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0138
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0316
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU PRIORITY 0053
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0244
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0132
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 1655

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CALCUTTA 000010 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV IN BG PREL PBTS PHUM PINR
SUBJECT: ULFA GOES ON A KILLING SPREE AGAINST HINDU "OUTSIDERS" 
 
REF: A) 06 CALCUTTA 0362, B) 06 CALCUTTA 0481, C) 06 CALCUTTA 0509 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Over the January 5-7 weekend, ethnic 
insurgent separatists from the United Liberation Front of Asom 
(ULFA) carried out a string of attacks in remote areas of Assam, 
killing more than 65 people.  The majority of attacks targeted 
migrant Bihari workers from India's Hindi- speaking heartland, 
and comes in the run up to India's Republic Day on January 26 
and the 33rd Indian National Games slated to take place in 
Assam, February 9-18.  ULFA's apparent return to its ideological 
roots by targeting non-Assamese in the state is aimed at 
altering public perception of ULFA as simply another violent 
criminal organization.  However, ULFA's use of camps in 
neighboring Bangladesh and acceptance of Bangladeshi migrants 
living in Assam undermines the pretense of its claimed agenda 
for ethnic purity in the state.  The violence is continuing, and 
prospects for a resumption of peace talks are slim, as GOI 
officials have called emergency meetings and are responding with 
increased troop levels to maintain security.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) January 5-8, in the Northeast Indian of Assam, members 
of the ethnic insurgent group ULFA killed more than 65 primarily 
Hindi-speaking migrants from India's Eastern state of Bihar. 
The killings took place in remote, Eastern areas of Assam in the 
Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Sibsagar and Kokrajhar districts. 
Media reported Friday and Saturday's attacks as follows: 
 
-- In the Bandarkhati village in Tinsukia, an ULFA attack killed 
two people. 
 
-- At Longsowal, insurgents fired indiscriminately into a crowd, 
killing three. 
 
-- In Daisajan Holoukhowa Govindapur Basti, four armed youths on 
motorcycles fired upon a village defense party. 
 
-- At Dighalitarang Tiniali one person died in a grenade attack. 
 
 
-- At Tingrai Chariali, a group of about 10 insurgents armed 
with sophisticated weapons fired on 11 brick kiln workers, four 
of whom died on the spot. 
 
-- At Borhat Govindapur in Sibsagar, ULFA killed three more 
brick kiln workers. 
 
-- ULFA killed 13 persons - all dairy farmers -- at Ghoramora 
Chapori. 
 
-- ULFA killed two persons at Bijlibon in the Tinsukia district. 
 
-- A 12 member gang of masked ULFA members gunned down six dairy 
farmers at Sakia chaperon located on the border of the Dibrugarh 
and Dhemaji districts. 
 
-- Other attacks by ULFA throughout the districts killed 16. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The attacks continued on Sunday, as ULFA militants 
killed 15 Hindi-speaking people and injured 10 others in four 
separate attacks hours after Union Minister of State for Home 
Sriprakash Jaiswal visited Assam in response to the stepped up 
violence: 
 
-- In Sibsagar, seven migrants from the state of Bihari died and 
three were injured when ULFA insurgents called them out of their 
homes at Borali Bari near Mahmara and opened fire. 
 
-- In Dibrugarh district, six Hindi-speaking persons were killed 
and one injured in an attack by militants at Chokolia. 
 
-- Three ULFA members on motorcycles fired indiscriminately with 
sophisticated weapons at workers at a brick kiln at Sepon 
Chagolia in Moran area of the same district. A worker died on 
the spot while six others were injured. One of the wounded later 
succumbed to his injuries. 
 
 
CALCUTTA 00000010  002 OF 002 
 
 
-- In Kokrajhar district in lower Assam, ULFA terrorists shot 
and injured a teenaged Hindi-speaking boy in Kochugaon. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The violence continued on Monday, January 8 with an 
addition two Hindi speakers being killed in Golaghat.  Initial 
media reports indicate the beginnings of an exodus of Bihari and 
Hindi-speaking migrants from Assam back to mainland India. 
Calcutta Chief of Police told ConGen he was concerned about 
potential violence by Biharis against ethnic Assamese.  (Note: 
In 2003, ULFA killed more than 60 migrants from Bihar following 
a highly publicized dispute in Assam over Bihari recruitment 
into the railways system.  Afterwards, Biharis responded by 
pulling passengers with ethnic Assamese features off of trains, 
killing the men and raping the women.  End note.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Speculation about the motives behind the attacks is 
wide-ranging.  The killings started a day after Union Home 
Secretary V. N. Duggal visited Assam to review security and 
 
SIPDIS 
declared Assam safe for the National Games -- India's biggest 
sporting event -- that are scheduled for February 9-18.  Over 
the past few months, ULFA has urged spectators and competitors 
to boycott the games, but the GOI has insisted it will not let 
the event be disrupted.  ULFA has been battered by stepped up 
military operations after peace talks failed last September and 
blames Duggal for the failure of efforts to restart talks. 
However, the increased military activity has not stopped the 
level of violence from rising (reftels).  The weekend's attacks 
come after Indian security forces killed five senior ULFA 
members last week.  According to security analyst Ajai Sahni, 
the weekend's violence is an attempt to cash in on 
"anti-outsider" feeling among the ethnic Assamese who are 
agitated over the fact that up to two million people in Assam 
are unemployed.  An intelligence official in Assam told post 
that the killings are in retaliation against the Army's 
increased security operations.  An Inspector General of the 
Assam Police said that the attacks are a "political message" to 
the GOI owing to the breakdown of talks.  He added that ULFA was 
able to take advantage of the porous border with Bangladesh to 
receive logistical support from militant camps located across 
the border and, he claimed, from Muslim fundamentalists. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment:  ULFA appears to be re-asserting its 
ideological, anti-outsider position to "reconnect" with its 
traditional ethnic Assamese base and to show its strength. 
Tellingly, though, all the attacks occurred in remote areas far 
removed from urban centers, in locales with limited security 
presence -- some incidents took place on Assam's border with 
Arunachal Pradesh state, where ULFA's 28th battalion is camped. 
In addition, ULFA did not target Bangladeshis, whose numbers 
have grown significantly in Assam over the last 30 years and 
potentially represent a greater threat to Assamese identity than 
the Bihari and Hindi-speaking migrants.  Key ULFA leaders live 
in Bangladesh and the targeting of Indian interlopers as opposed 
to Bangladeshis seems a strong indication that ULFA has links 
with Bangladesh that it does not want to jeopardize even at the 
risk of ideological inconsistency. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment Continued:  Many Ethnic Assamese have long 
resented the presence of "outsiders" in their state, and this 
sentiment has increased as the unemployment rate and the 
population pressure on the land grows.  At its formation, ULFA 
capitalized on this sentiment but in recent years has lost much 
of its popular support by turning more toward extortion, theft, 
and kidnapping.  With the annual Republic Day celebrations 
coming on January 26, and the National Games very soon in 
February, ULFA is likely timing its attacks to reassert itself 
during a sensitive period.  The Assam government has requested 
additional forces from Delhi to control the security situation 
and more violence is expected.   End comment. 
JARDINE