Top Ulfa militant held in Assam

GUWAHATI: A top Ulfa leader - who is accused of masterminding massacres of Hindi-speaking people and attacks on gas and oil installations in Assam - was arrested on Monday.
Prabal Neog, commander of Ulfa's '28th battalion', was held along with his wife and a child in Sonitpur district's Tezpur town.
"We trapped Neog after we got a tip-off about him and his wife coming to Tezpur from Karbi Anglong district," Sonitpur SP MP Gupta said, adding that he was caught at the Mission Chariali bus stand while he was on his way to Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, with his family."Both Neog and his wife are in good health," Gupta said.
IG (intelligence) Khagen Sarma described Neog as "a prize catch". Police are expecting vital information about Ulfa's operations from Neog, who is likely to be produced in court on Tuesday. "Neog's arrest is a blow to Ulfa most of whose leaders are now either in prison or hiding in Bangladesh," Sarma said.
The IG said Neog's detention could paralyse the '28th battalion', which is regarded as Ulfa's most dreaded strike force. The '28th battalion' moved into jungles along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border after the Army swung into action following the massacre of over 80 Hindi-speaking migrants in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sivasagar districts early this year. Neog is believed to have taken over the command of the '28th battalion' after the arrest of its chief, Mrinal Hazarika, last year.