ULFA C-in-C Paresh Barua shot at by Myanmar army
Source: Hueiyen News Service
New Delhi, September 10 2011:
Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), has been shot at in the jungles of northwest Myanmar on Friday.
The fugutive Ulfa leader is wanted by a Bangladesh court for his involvement with the 2004 smuggling of 10-truck load of arms.
Sources said Barua has been injured but has survived the attack by the Myanmarese soldiers.
Barua was with some rebels when he was detected by the Myanmarese army and was fired upon, they added.
"Baruah, 55, has sustained bullet injuries during a counter-insurgency operation in Myanmar," a leading daily quoted a source from the Assam Police as saying.
It added the Union Home Ministry confirmed the attack but said he "survived" .
Meanwhile, the Paresh Barua faction of ULFA today denied media reports that he and several cadres were injured during a raid by Myanmarese forces on a camp of the rebels in that country.
"Our leaders and cadres are safe and secure.
News about our leaders being injured is not only false, but is a misinformation campaign by government agencies to mislead the people of Assam," Publicity In-Charge of the ULFAs's anti-talk faction Arunodoy Dohotiya clarified to a news agency.
"The common people of Myanmar are our well-wishers and its geographical and natural terrain have helped and protected us on several occasions.
Our leaders and cadres are prepared to face any situation," he said.
Dohotiya said that the outfit had learnt a bitter lesson from the Royal Bhutan Army's operation against the ULFA in 2003 and had taken necessary precautions.
Most of the faction's leaders and members were safe in a camp in east Nagaland, he claimed.
In Delhi, Union Home Secretary RK Singh, when asked about reports on the incident, said he did not have any information.