GUWAHATI: Assam Police have confirmed that the Thursday’s killing of five Bengali-speaking men in Assam’s Tinsukia district was carried out by the banned Myanmar-based anti-talk Ulfa (Indpendent)."The killings were done by Ulfa (I)…they took advantage of the situation in the state. Last month we had issued a general alert across the state to all police stations against possible attacks. We even issued instructions for area dominance by security forces in Bengali-majority parts of the state,” the top Assam Police officer said.Police source said that spent bullets of AK 81, a Chinese-designed Kalashnikov, were recovered from the site of the killing. This variant of AK series of rifles is known to be in possession of Ulfa(I).The officer said that the Ulfa(I) took advantage of the ongoing tension between the Assamese and Bengali population of the state fuelled by political parties and organizations from both sides over the Citizenship (amendment) bill, which the centre wants to bring to give citizenship to illegal Bengali-speaking Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh.The bill has created widespread protests in the state but the ruling BJP, particularly some of its leaders, have taken a pro-bill stand which has divided the both Assamese-speaking and Bengali-speaking communities in Brahmaputra valley.On the eve of Durga puja last month, Ulfa(I) exploded a bomb in Guwahati describing it as a warning to Centre for trying to amend the citizenship bill . The killing of the five Bengali speaking men has come a week after ministry of home affairs issued an ordinance authorizing district magistrates of 11 districts in seven states, barring Assam, to register illegal Bengali-speaking Hindu migrants along other non-Muslim groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.Police are also blaming the media, specially the electronic media, for focusing more on the communally inciting remarks that political leaders have been making against each other.Police have picked up two leaders of pro-talk Ulfa faction, Jiten Dutta and Mrinal Hazarika at Guwahati and Sibasagar for questioning. “These two had issued threats in public against those speaking in favour of the citizenship (amendment) bill. We have detained them and ask them on this,” the police official said.In a statement issued by the Ulfa(I) publicity department in-charge Romel Asom said, “We the ULFA (I) would like to make it clear to all concerned authorities that our organization does not have any involvement in the firing incident that occurred on November 1 at Sadiya Saikhowaghat in Tinsukia district.”

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