Following complaints by the people about movement of ULFA cadres in the area for extortion and infiltrating into Assam through Mokokchung and Mon districts in Nagaland, the 31 Assam Rifles launched an operation at Saringyunset village yesterday, the sources said.
As the security force closed in, the insurgents opened fire and injured one securityman. The troops retaliated and the in the exchange of fire, that lasted for about 10 minutes, an ULFA extremist was killed.
The body of self-styled ULFA lieutenant Prakash Bora, a resident of Jorhat, who was killed in the encounter, was recovered from the jungle, the sources said adding the slain militant was responsible for subversive activities in Jorhat, Golaghat and Sibsagar.
The AR troops also apprehended a resident of the village from whose house a huge quantity of ammunition and explosive materials were recovered.
The ammunition and explosives recovered from the ULFA cadres include one assault rifle, one .303 rifle, one pistol, large quantity of material for making improvised explosive devices (IED), two hand grenades, two bombs and over 300 rounds of assorted ammunition.
The apprehended cadres later confessed that they were trained in explosive handling and were to target major populated centres in Assam in the near future, the sources added.