Assam Timeline - Year 1998

January 2	United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia alias Golap Baruah, arrested in Dhaka with two of his accomplices for unlawful stay, possession of false Bangladeshi passport and foreign currency without valid documents.
January 3	Ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) alleges Congress (I) nexus with Bodo terrorists in the December 30, 1997, incident in which 12 persons were killed in Darrang district.
January 7	Army recovers a hand grenade, six detonators, seven rounds of 38 mm ammunition, two rounds of 76 mm ammunition and a grenade launcher from Ambari village, Nalbari district.
January 7	ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa, in a press statement, asks Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasena not to hand over the outfit’s ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia to India and also demands his ‘unconditional release’.
January 9	ULFA calls for a 12-hour Statewide strike demanding release of its leader Anup Chetia, who was arrested by Bangladesh police in Dhaka on January 2.
January 9	Police in Sonitpur district arrests five Bengali Tiger Force (BTF) terrorists including, ‘district commander’ Subhas Majumdar, with arms and ammunition.
January 10	National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in a press statement signed by its ‘military secretary’, B. Sungtha, warns of continuing violence till the time the Indian Government recognizes the genuine grievances of Bodos and other indigenous people of the region.
January 11	Shankar Baruah, Inspector General of Police, escapes attempt on life by suspected ULFA terrorists in Guwahati city. Two Personal Security Officers of the IGP injured.
January 13	Suspected Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) terrorists kill 17 civilians, including two children, at Kekerikuchi village under Rangiya police station limits in Kamrup district.
January 22	Prime Minister I K Gujral announces Union Government’s decision to bear all costs of counter-insurgency operations in Assam, Nagaland, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
January 31	Security force (SF) personnel discover an over ground office of the ULFA, the Deka Asom Sakha affiliated to the outfit’s Kajoli Kuth Anchalik Parishad, from their hideout at Naobahotiya and arrest six cadres belonging to the ‘publicity wing’.
February 3	Mithinga Daimary, ULFA ‘publicity secretary’, in a statement, appeals to workers and candidates of all political parties to immediately stop election campaign, and announces a ‘ban’ on the electioneering for the forthcoming assembly poll.
February 4	Suspected ULFA terrorists, in an attack on a police outpost, kill three police personnel at Borghotla in Bongaigoan district.
February 4	Front ranking NDFB terrorist, Megma Boro, shot dead by SFs in the Barimakha area of Nalbari district.
February 5	ULFA terrorists kill Prabin Bairagi, Secretary of Puranigudam regional unit of AGP, in Guwahati city.
February 6	ULFA terrorists kill one police personnel and abduct 11 AGP activists in Nagaon.
February 8	SFs arrest four hardcore ULFA terrorists- Jiten Gogoi, Jyotish Gogoi, Pranjal Baruah and Dina Gogoi - at Sonari in Dibrugarh district.
February 9	Police arrest ULFA ‘organizational commander’ Hiteswar Kalita alias Bhaiti, from Ishatkharia village in Kamrup district.
February 11	Suspected ULFA terrorists shoot at and injure Municipal Administration Affairs Minister Biraj Kumar Sarma at the Silpukhri area in Guwahati city. A SF personnel is killed and three others injured in the attack.
February 11	ULFA terrorists kill Anil Kumar Baruah, Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) candidate for the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency, during an election meeting at Naharani block office near Naharkatiya in Tinsukia district.
February 15	SF personnel belonging to the 13 Mahar Regiment based at Nagoan kill a ULFA cadre, Nilomi Saikia alias Sumonto Saikia, secretary of the Kolong-Kopili Parishad of the ULFA in Nagaon city.
February 15	Five ULFA "action group" terrorists killed in an encounter at Rasigaon village near Amingaon in Bongaigaon district. Large quantity of arms and ammunition recovered.
February 20	ULFA ‘publicity secretary’, Mithinga Daimary, in a statement renders apology to Ms Kanaklata Dutta, who was hurt during the assassination of CPI-ML leader Anil Baruah at Naharani on February 11 by the outfit.
February 22	All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) leader Kamal Boro killed by suspected NDFB terrorists at Dimakusi in Darrang district.
February 23	NDFB, in a statement, claims responsibility for killing of ABSU leader Kamal Boro.
February 23	Kachin-trained ‘area commander’ of ULFA, Pranjaljyoti Neog, killed in an encounter at Kali-Sankarpur, Karbi Anglong district.
February 25	The Paschim mandal (western zone) of ULFA calls for a 12-hour strike in the lower Assam districts in protest against the killing of the outfit’s ‘action group’ members at Bongaigoan on February 15.
February 25	ULFA, in a statement, rejects State Government’s renewed offer for talks and terms the exercise as ‘a pastime while continuing its trial and error methods of atrocities and violence with the help of the Army’.
February 28	‘Central Zone Headquarters’ of ULFA destroyed at Kholihaigaon in Darrang district and large quantity of arms, ammunition and documents recovered.
March 9	Mayasryn Deory, ‘organizing secretary’ of the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), in a press release, calls upon the Central and State Governments to take immediate steps to solve the Bodo problem through dialogue.
March 15	Suspected ULFA terrorists abduct seven persons from Nagaon district.
March 26	Five ULFA cadres killed during an encounter at Pakhihaga village in Kokrajhar district.
April 2	Four BLT terrorists killed in an internecine clash with NDFB at Hatibari Chuba under Tamulpur police station limits in Nalbari district.
April 7	ULFA, in a press release on its foundation day, calls upon people of Assam to take a ‘pledge’ to continue the revolution for Assam’s ‘independence’.
April 8	Pradip Gogoi, ‘vice chairman’ of ULFA, arrested from the New Market area in Calcutta, West Bengal.
May 3	13 persons, including four women and two children, massacred in fresh spurt of ethnic violence between Bodos and Santhals in Kojrajhar district.
May 9	14 persons of the Santhal community, including four women, killed and 13 others injured in an attack by Bodo assailants at Borobeel and Karigaon villages under Gossaigaon police station jurisdiction in Kokrajhar district.
May 15	Three BLT terrorists killed in internecine clash between the BLT and NDFB at the villages of Simaluguri and Mahilapara in Darrang district.
May 18	Four NDFB terrorists killed in an encounter at No. 2 Purani Bhergaon under Tangla police station in Darrang district
May 28	Three ULFA terrorists killed in an encounter near Nagrijuli tea garden in Nalbari district.
May 31	Six people killed and five others injured when the Bodo miscreants attacked a Santhal village under Sidli police station in Kokrajhar district.
June 13	Seven ULFA cadres arrested in Adabari village, Nalbari district.
July 1	Five NDFB terrorists killed in an encounter at Majorbari under Patacherkuchi police station jurisdiction in Barpeta district.
July 7	SFs recover the ‘annual audit report’ of NDFB at Baghmara in Barpeta district. According to the ‘report’, the outfit collected over Rupees Four crore as ‘Bodoland tax’ during 1997 in Assam.
July 18	Seven police personnel, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, killed in an ambush by NDFB at Jharbhari under Serphanghuri police station jurisdiction in Kokrajhar district.
July 24	51 ULFA terrorists surrender at Thakurbari in Sonitpur district along with two AK-47 rifles and a huge amount of explosives.
July 25	Seven camp inmates belonging to the Santhal community killed as NDFB terrorists attack a refugee camp at Telapara in Kokrajhar district.
July 29	12 civilians killed and thirty others injured during a bomb blast at a weekly cattle market at Dhumdhuma in Nalbari district.
August 6	Three army personnel killed and four other injured as their vehicle is blown up by suspected ULFA terrorists at Japarkuchi in Nalbari town.
August 11	Four SF personnel killed and eight others injured in an attack by NDFB terrorists at Tangla in Darrang distinct.
August 13	147 terrorists, including 133 ULFA, six BLT and one NDFB cadre, surrender at Holongapa near Mariani in Jorhat district.
August 26	Three ULFA terrorists killed in an encounter near Dibrugarh.
September 17	Three youths killed and several houses burnt as violence breaks out between the Bodos and Adivasis in Gossaigaon subdivision in Kokrajhar district.
September 20	Ten terrorists of the Muslim Security Force (MSF) surrender at Darrang along with some arms and ammunition.
September 22	Two NDFB terrorists killed in an encounter at Bagulamari in Nalbari district. Three AK-47 Rifles, a Light Machine Gun, nine Chinese made Rifles and 48 rounds of ammunition recovered from the encounter site.
September 26	Three persons, including two ULFA terrorists, killed in an encounter at Pub Bongaon in Nalbari district.
September 28	Seven persons, including five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, killed and seven others injured in an ambush by ULFA on a patrol party between Goalpara and Rongjuli in the Goalpara district.
October 8	Unidentified gunmen kill 13 civilians belonging to different communities at three places, Bhergaon, Bhergaon Chowk and Barangbari, in Darrang district.
October 10	Suspected NDFB terrorists kill four civilians in Bongaon and Hirapur villages in Darrang district. Five Forest Protection Force personnel killed by Adivasi militants at Borobandha forest area in Kokrajhar district.
October 17	Four Adivasi inmates of a rehabilitation camp killed and another injured in an attack by suspected NDFB terrorists at Kokrajhar.
October 22	Eleven Border Security Force (BSF) personnel injured in an explosion triggered by unidentified terrorists near Abhayapuri in Bongaigaon district.
November 5	Unidentified terrorists ambush a police patrol and kill three police personnel and injure another near Sidli in Bongaigaon district.
November 7	Suspected BLT terrorists kill seven persons, including one police personnel, and injure 30 others at Jalah under Patacharkuchi police station in Barpeta district.
November 17	Four civilians killed by suspected BLT terrorists at Kharadhera in Barpeta district.
November 20	Three passengers killed and twenty-seven others injured in an attack by Adivasi militants on a passenger bus at Ultapani in Kokrajhar district.
November 21	The BLT, through a press release, appeals to the NDFB to stop fratricidal killings and put up a united fight for the self-determination of Bodos.
November 23	Three BLT terrorists killed in an encounter at Amarvati village, Nalbari district.
November 24	Suspected NDFB terrorists kill three civilians and injure seven others at Kawoimori market under Khoirabari police station in Darrang district.
November 26	Four security force personnel belonging to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and a driver of a vehicle killed as ULFA terrorists ambush a CISF vehicle at Doba tea estate under Moranhat police station in Sibsagar district.
November 28	Suspected ULFA terrorists blow up a portion of a crude pipeline at Kapili railway bridge in Morigaon district.
December 3	A surrendered ULFA cadre killed along with his two Personal Security Officers by unidentified terrorists near the State zoo in Guwahati.
December 12	Suspected NDFB terrorists kill 26 persons belonging to the Adivasi community at Panjan Bathanbari forest area under Gossaigaon police station limits in Kokrajhar district.
December 14	Four terrorists of the Bengali Tigers Force (BTF) killed in an encounter at Nagrijuli, Nalbari district.
December 18	Seven persons, including a woman, killed and forty-four others injured in a car bomb explosion triggered by suspected BLT terrorists in front of a petrol pump near Dispur capital complex in Guwahati.
December 20	Ten persons, including six police personnel, killed in an ambush by suspected ULFA terrorists at Laopara under Bilashipara police station limits in Dhubri district.