Surrendered Indian woman militant says she received training in Bangladesh
GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - A woman militant who surrendered to police in the northeastern Indian Assam state said she had received arms training at an official Bangladeshi firing range.
"I went to Dhaka in 2001 along with another colleague of mine to receive training in mortar firing," Dwipamani Kalita, a member of the United Liberation Front of Assam's (ULFA) female suicide squad told reporters.
"I did not know who my instructors were as we spoke very little and talked only on matters relating to arms and explosives," she said after her surrender.
Hare Krishna Deka, police chief of Assam, said that the 22-year-old rebel had told them that ULFA cadres were blindfolded before being taken for "firing practice of mortars in an official notified range."
The rebel, among a select few female cadres trained in explosives and other weapons, said the site was located about three hours drive from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
"Dwipamani had carried out several daring mortar attacks in Assam after she returned from Dhaka (in 2001)," police chief Deka said.
Among these were three mortar attacks in Assam's capital Guwahati last year, in which four people died and 21 people were wounded.
Officials say that she is likely to receive
a state pardon because she had surrendered voluntarily.
The ULFA is fighting for an independent homeland and operates
out of fortified bases in the adjoining Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan
to carry out hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on Indian soldiers
in Assam.
There have been unconfirmed reports of the ULFA relocating its bases from Bhutan to areas bordering Bangladesh in recent months.
Bangladesh has denied the presence of such camps.
However, Indian intelligence officials claim that there are at least a dozen Indian separatist groups operating out of bases in Bangladesh who have also forged links with Pakistan's intelligence agency.
More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the northeastern region since India's independence in 1947.