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Deadliest attack on Army in 33 yrs, 20 jawans die

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Ulfa owns Manipur ambush that killed 20 jawans

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Myanmar support gives rebels a shot in the arm

GUWAHATI: The newly-floated United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia ( UNLFW ), a conglomerate of United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent), Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (Songbijit), which has claimed responsibility for the killing of 20 personnel of the Army’s Dogra regiment in an ambush in Manipur on Thursday morning, is the new name of terror in the northeast.The UNLFW had also claimed responsibility for the May 3 ambush in Nagaland’s Mon district that killed seven Assam Rifles jawans and one Territorial Army jawan. Chairman of NSCN-K, S S Khaplang, who is also the chairman of this new platform, had recently pulled out of the ceasefire agreement with the Centre. Khaplang, however, continues to be in a Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with Myanmar.The UNLFW was formed on April 17 in the Taga area of Myanmar, where these outfits are currently based, to achieve ‘united and total struggle’. According to Indian security and intelligence agencies, the seeds for the formation of a new platform were sown at a 2011 meeting in Ruili in China’s Yunan province. Ulfa leader Paresh Baruah, NSCN-K leader Khaplang and leaders of Meitei outfits, United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and People’s Liberation Army (PLA), of Manipur attended the meeting, said sources.Immediately after the meting, the Meitei outfits formed an umbrella organization called CorCom, which includes Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), PREPAK (Progressive), Revolutionary People's Front, and United National Liberation Front (UNLF).As many as 11 militant outfits from Assam, Nagaland and Manipur are based in the western part of Myanmar that borders Arunachal, Nagaland and Manipur.Additional DGP of Assam Police (Special Branch) Pallab Bhattacharya confirmed that Paresh Baruah and others had been trying to form a new platform since 2011.The UNLFW is the third umbrella outfit of its kind. In 1989 the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front (IBRF) was formed, comprising United National Liberation Front, NSCN-K, Ulfa and Kuki National Army, with the help of Chin National Front, a militant outfit of Myanmar. In mid-1995, Ulfa and NSCN-K formed a separate umbrella organization called United Liberation Front of Seven Sisters. After a split in Ulfa, in which the major faction began peace talks with the Centre, these earlier groups became defunct.Bhattacharya told TOI, “We are taking UNLFW very seriously since it has brought several militant outfits under one umbrella.The Ulfa-I, NDFB-S and the other outfits, who have been demanding secession from India, have been using the term Western South East Asia (WSEA) to describe the northeast. In 2013, Paresh Baruah issued a statement hinting at the formation of a common platform for the region’s militant outfits.