Shillong:
In a major jolt to the ULFA, several top leaders of the banned group were picked by a joint team of Assam Police and BSF from near the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border, a top police official said on Friday.
However, elusive ULFA 'c-in-c' Paresh Barua said he will fight till the end.
As many as 19 ULFA leaders, including four 'captains', were taken by a joint team of Assam Police and BSF from Dalu in Meghalaya-Bangladesh border to Guwahati on Wednesday, the official said.
However, it was not clear if the cadres were picked up by the security force or they surrendered.
The leaders include Bhaity Baruah, Prodyut Gohain, Anjan Borthakur, Biju Deka, Kotia Rabha, Arpan Saikia and Anu Buragohain, all known to be close aides of Paresh Barua and members of the ad-hoc committee formed by Barua after the arrests of other top leaders, including 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, last year.
Nine of their family members were also with the 'detained' cadres.
Meanwhile, the ULFA 'c-in-c', in an email to the local media here, claimed that these leaders were 'trapped' by the 'Indian forces' and are currently in the custody of the security forces.
Apparently indicating that the group was beleaguered by the development, Barua said, "Now the struggle will be carried out by the new generation. And I will fight till the end."
Only a handful of cadres of the outfit now remain at large, most of whom are believed to be in Myanmar.
Earlier, Dhaka had facilitated the "arrest and handed over" of five top leaders of the banned outfit, including its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa last year.
Besides Rajkhowa, ULFA 'deputy commander-in-chief' Raju Baruah, self-styled foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury, and finance secretary Chitraban Hazarika, are in jail in Assam.