ULFA SUSPECTED IN ASSAM TERRORIST ATTACKS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000096 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DHS PASS TO RFI/BAROSKI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PK IN SUBJECT: ULFA SUSPECTED IN ASSAM TERRORIST ATTACKS REF: KOLKATA 311 KOLKATA 00000096 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On April 6, nine people died and more than 30 were wounded in a series of six terrorist attacks in different parts of Assam, including the capital Guwahati. Police suspect that the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA),which celebrates its foundation day on April 7, conducted three of the attacks, with three other insurgent groups conducting the others. The attacks took place a day before India's Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh's planned to visit Assam. ULFA and the other insurgent groups have denied responsibility for the attacks. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) On April 6, eight people died and more than 30 were wounded in a series of six terrorist attacks in different parts of the northeastern state of Assam. One more injured person died on April 7. The attacks came one day before India's PM Manmohan Singh planned to visit the northern part of Assam for election campaigning. PM Singh is a member of the Raja Sabha (parliament upper house) from Assam. PM Singh did not cancel his travel plans. A Day of Attacks ¶3. (SBU) The first attack took place at 8:45 a.m. near Diphu in Karbi Anglong district, about 270 kilometers south of Guwahati, with attackers using a low intensity improvised explosive device (IED). At 1:45 p.m. there was a second explosion from an IED concealed in a motorcycle in the Maligaon area of the state capital of Guwahati. Several hours later, an IED placed in a bicycle exploded in Dhekiajuli, a city 150 kilometers north of Guwahati. At 4.15 p.m., there was yet another IED blast at Haflong, about 325 kilometers southeast of Guwahati. At approximately 7:00 p.m., attackers threw a grenade at a police outpost at Mankachar in the Dhubri district, 270 kilometers west of Guwahati on the India-Bangladesh border. The last incident was at Udalguri town, 140 kilometers north of Guwahati, where attackers threw a grenade at a labor camp. UFLA Blamed for Three Attacks ¶3. (SBU) Khagen Sharma (protect),a senior intelligence official in Guwahati, told PolFSN that police suspect that UFLA conducted the attacks in Guwahati, Dhekiajuli and Mankachar. He said that the police had received intelligence that ULFA was planning attacks on the eve of ULFA's April 7 Foundation Day. He said that police were looking for two hardcore ULFA activists and had circulated their photographs prior to the attacks. He noted that while the explosives used in the three attacks are readily available locally, the timers used to trigger the two IEDs are not. He speculated that only the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) could have provided the timers. ULFA leader Paresh Barua denied his organization's involvement and blamed Assam's political parties for orchestrating the explosions ahead of the elections. Other Insurgent Groups Contribute to the Violence ¶4. (SBU) Police contacts told PolFSN that they suspect three other insurgent groups are responsible for the other attacks; the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) in Diphu, the Dima Halong Daoga (DHD) in Haflong, and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Udalguri. He speculated that these groups independently selected April 6 for the attacks since security forces were focused on potential ULFA attacks ahead of their Foundation Day and the PM's planned visit to the state. Comment: ¶5. (SBU) While insurgents have been conducting terrorist attacks in Assam for decades, there has been a marked increase in the number and seriousness of attacks in the capital of Guwahati over the past six months. Also, since the beginning of 2009, there has been a serious terrorist attack in Assam every time a senior Indian minister has visited the state - on January 1 when Home Minister P Chidambaram visited, on March 31 during Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit, and now a day before the PM was scheduled to visit. While no one has confirmed that PM Singh intentionally timed his visit to Assam to coincide with ULFA's Foundation Day, it is probably not a coincidence. Members of ULFA are the most likely culprits for the majority of the serious attacks, but it remains unclear whether the attacks are being orchestrated by senior ULFA leadership or splinter groups operating on their own. While police and government officials often blame foreign entities such as ISI for assisting with the more serious attacks, they have yet to share evidence KOLKATA 00000096 002.2 OF 002 supporting these claims with USG officials. PAYNE