"The killing of four Maoists at Sadiya in Upper Assam has brought their presence out in the open and ULFA's Commander- in-Chief Paresh Barua extending moral support to them also confirms that they are hand in glove with militant outfits of the region," Gogoi told reporters here.
The Maoists are "spreading their wings by establishing their network in all the upper Assam districts and are now planning to spread in the lower Assam areas", the chief minister claimed.
He asserted there are reports that the Maoists were also receiving training from other militant outfits of the region like NSCN(IM).
But this, he said, was not within Assam and they were "taking advantage of the prevailing ceasefire conditions with the outfits".
He also urged the Centre to extend the same support to the region, like special schemes and joint operations as being given to the Naxal-affected states in tackling the problem.
"To counter these forces, we will have to conduct operations not only in Assam but also in neighbouring states like Arunachal Pradesh. And for this reason I openly support National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) as joint operations are necessary to root out the problem," he added.
The Centre must take the states into confidence while implementing the NCTC and steps should be taken to ensure that it is not misused, Gogoi said.
"In Assam, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in force but there have been very few instances of misuse of the Act in the state," he added.
