Suspected cadres of the proscribed Ulfa (Independent) and the Yung Aung faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-YA) carried out a joint attack on a group of Assam Rifles

personnel patrolling in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district early on Tuesday, leaving a junior commissioned officer injured.

The attack in Changlang district’s Pangsau Pass, around 300 metres from the Myanmar border, came a couple of hours after suspected members of the two outfits fired “from a distance” at an Assam Rifles post near Dan Pangsah in Noklak district of neighbouring Nagaland. There was no casualty or injury in Noklak, which also shares border with Myanmar, an official said, adding the distance between the two incident sites will be over 100km.

Assam’s Tezpur-based defence public relations officer Lt Col A.S. Walia issued a statement about “firing by militant groups from across” the Indo-Myanmar border while Assam Rifles troops were “undertaking enhanced patrolling activities” in view of heightened vigil for the upcoming Independence Day.

“One JCO sustained minor injury in hand. No injury or any other damage reported. Enhanced surveillance by own troops to continue,” Walia said. Around four hours later, a tweet by Kohima-based defence PRO said: “Alert troops of #IGARNorth foiled an infiltration bid of Insurgent groups at Pangsau Pass #Changlang #ArunachalPradesh on 09 Aug Infiltration attempted under cover of stand off fire in bad weather & low visibility.Enhanced Vigil continues.”

The attack comes four days after both the groups, which operate from their hideouts in Myanmar, urged the masses in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, and Meghalaya to boycott the ensuing 75th Independence Day. The groups also called for a bandh from August 14 midnight to 6pm on August 15.

Officials said the attack would not impact the Independence Day celebrations or the Centre’s Har Ghar Tiranga initiative to ensure every household in the country hoist the Tricolour. “This is an act to make their presence felt but this will not affect the I-Day celebrations,” an official said.

Ulfa (Independent) has given the boycott call despite its ongoing unilateral ceasefire in Assam. Last year, it had neither called a bandh or boycott for the first time since 1996, citing the Covid-19 situation.

The NSCN (K-YA) is said to be active in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh, also known as the TCL region.

In May, the people of the region had organised a mass protest in Longding against growing extortion and kidnapping by the outfit.

The NSCN faction is also active in Nagaland’s Mon district, which shares border with Noklak. The core demand of both the militant groups is sovereignty.