VZCZCXRO7979
PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHCN
DE RUEHCI #0166/01 1370536
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170536Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1553
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1472
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0647
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0642
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0418
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0424
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0276
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0072
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0343
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDHP/DIA DHP-1 WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1914

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000166 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PHUM KCRM ASEC IN BG
SUBJECT: TERRORIST GROUP UNITED LIBERATION FRONT OF ASOM KILLS 
"INDIAN OUTSIDERS" IN UPPER ASSAM 
 
REF: KOLKATA 00149 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  On May 16, ethnic Assamese terrorist group 
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) gunned down three 
Hindi-speaking market traders in two different incidents in 
Golaghat district in Upper Assam.  These attacks came soon after 
ULFA's killing on the previous day, May 15, of six 
Hindi-speaking "outsiders" in the Northeast Indian state of 
Assam.  The killings in Upper Assam followed threats by ULFA's 
28th Battalion "Charlie" Company Commander to local media on May 
14 that ULFA would kill "Indians" living in Assam and would 
"award capital punishment" to those who attacked demonstrators 
and Ulfa-sympathizers blocking National Highway 37 to protest 
the Indian Army's killing on May 5 of a suspected ULFA 
insurgent.  On May 14, ULFA triggered a bomb blast in the state 
capital Guwahati, killing two persons.  ULFA's steady campaign 
of violence, especially against perceived outsiders, is unlikely 
to abate soon.  Neither the GOI nor ULFA appear ready to discuss 
peace and ULFA's persistent small scale attacks against 
defenseless civilians in remote areas of the state require 
little resources or risk for the terrorist group.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) On May 16, four suspected ULFA insurgents drove 
motorcycles into a market in Gologhat district in Upper Assam 
and shot to death two local traders, Dipak Agarwal and Tankeswar 
Chahu, identified as non-Assamese "Hindi-speaking outsiders." 
Later, in the town of Merapani on the Nagaland border local 
businessman Srinath Jaiswal was also shot dead. 
 
¶3.  (U) These three deaths came soon after the killing of six 
other non-Assamese Hindi-speakers in the evening of May 15. 
Suspected ULFA members shot dead the "outsiders" in two separate 
incidents in Dibrugarh and Sivasagar districts of Upper Assam. 
The militants sprayed bullets from automatic weapons at a small 
shop in Borhat, Sivsagar, killing its owner and injuring his 
son.  In Dibrugarh, five persons were shot when ULFA militants 
attacked Belbari village.  These latest incidents are similar to 
the attacks in January 5-16 when ULFA gunned down as many as 63 
Hindi-speaking people in the Upper Assam region. 
 
¶4.  (U) The attacks follow threats by ULFA's 28th Battalion 
Charlie Company Commander Jiten Dutta that he made in calls to 
local newspapers on May 14.  Dutta said that ULFA would conduct 
attacks on "Indian people living in the state."  (Comment: 
ULFA, an Other Selected Terrorist Organization (OSTO), claims to 
be fighting for Assamese ethnic identity and an independent 
Assam and sees migrants from other parts of India as 
"outsiders."  However, ULFA has refrained from attacking the 
larger community of illegal Bangladeshi migrants that arguably 
represent a greater threat to Assamese ethnic identity in Assam. 
 This noticeable absence of threat to Bangladeshis appears to 
support GOI claims that ULFA retains good relations with the 
Bangladesh government.  End Comment.)  ULFA Chairman Arabinda 
Rajkhowa has also held the government responsible for inciting 
tea plantation laborers in Upper Assam to attack villagers near 
Doomdooma in Tinsukia district.  On May 13, armed tea plantation 
laborers clashed with protesters and ULFA sympathizers who 
blocked two vital national highways to protest the killing of 
Buddheswar Moran during the army's anti-insurgency operations on 
May 5.  The situation spiraled out of control, and six persons 
died in the confrontation between the two groups. 
 
¶5.  (U) On May 14, the ULFA triggered a powerful blast in the 
busy Athgaon area of Guwahati.  The blast killed two and injured 
nine persons.  The bomb, suspected to be an Improvised Explosive 
Device (IED), was planted on a motorcycle.  Police claimed that 
the bomb was planted by Aboni Das alias Rakhtim alias Ranjan, an 
ULFA cadre who died from explosive shrapnel.  Enraged local 
residents and businessmen protested this attack as yet another 
security lapse on the part of police.  Earlier on May 6, ULFA 
had exploded a bomb concealed in a motorcycle in the busy Fancy 
Bazaar area, near Athgaon, injuring 19 people (Reftel). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) An Assam police official told Post that the ULFA is no 
longer capable of a full-scale "war" and therefore is resorting 
to small explosions and attacks, seeking to encourage its 
supporters in Upper Assam.  He observed that peace talks with 
ULFA are unlikely as at present there is little pressure on the 
outfit from either GOI or Bangladesh.  The outfit's extortion 
 
KOLKATA 00000166  002 OF 002 
 
 
drive is intense and its violence is often to intimidate those 
who have not paid.  Also, ULFA's support base is confined to 
Upper Assam, where the May 5 killing of a Moran generated public 
outrage.  The recent violence is likely retaliation for the 
incident. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment:  ULFA's targeting of defenseless 
"Hindi-speakers" in remote areas of Assam, far from the 
protection of authorities, is an easy and low risk way to 
sustain pressure on the GOI to restrain the security forces and 
to rally supporters with tangible evidence of ULFA's ability to 
attack at will.  Neither ULFA nor the GOI appear ready to begin 
peace negotiations and the violence will likely continue with a 
steady series of IED bombings and killings of Hindi-speaking 
"outsiders. 
JARDINE