Assam’s Security Challenges: A Shift from Insurgency to Islamist Extremism
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(Afsara Shaheen)
On December 29, 2025, the Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) dismantled an Islamist extremist module linked to Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK), an offshoot of the Bangladesh-based Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), with the arrest of 10 suspected operatives from Barpeta, Chirang, and Darrang Districts. STF Chief and Guwahati Police Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta disclosed that the module was engaged in radicalising and recruiting youths through encrypted social media platforms, spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds via hawala and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and facilitating cross-border travel for training.
Investigations revealed that following the August 2024 regime change in Bangladesh, leaders of JMB, Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and Al-Qaida in
the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) directed IMK to activate and expand its Indian modules. The case highlighted the growing influence of transnational Islamist networks exploiting political instability in neighbouring Bangladesh to revive dormant cells in Assam.
Two days earlier, on December 27, 2025, a cadre of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland Khaplang-Yung Aung faction (NSCN-KYA) was arrested in a joint operation by the Assam Rifles and Assam Police in the Namtola area of Sibsagar District. The arrested militant, identified as Wangmei Konyak, was the prime accused in the killing of Muslek Ali on November 25, 2024. Security Forces (SFs) recovered a .32 pistol, one magazine, six live rounds of ammunition, and extortion-related tax collection receipts from his possession, indicating the continued reliance of Naga insurgent factions on coercive taxation and criminal extortion to sustain their operations within Assam.
Earlier, on November 26, 2025, Assam Police arrested four persons – Maheswar Keot, Konak Gogoi, Rahul Mohan, and Bolin Boruah – from Charaideo District for their suspected links with the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I). These arrests formed part of sustained counter insurgency efforts aimed at dismantling the residual recruitment, logistics, and financial networks of ULFA-I which, despite a significant decline in operational capability, continued to attempt sporadic mobilisation.
Partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) indicated that 60 militants were arrested in Assam in 2025 across 30 separate incidents. Of these, 30 were linked to ULFA-I, 12 to JMB, four to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), two each to NSCN-KYA, National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), and Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), two to ABT, and one to the Tehrik-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while the group identities of five arrested militants could not be conclusively ascertained. This represented a sharp decline compared to 2024, when 124 militants were arrested in 55 incidents, and 2023, when 86 militants were arrested in 49 incidents. The downward trend in arrests reflected a contraction in militant mobilisation, though the persistence of Islamist extremist arrests
pointed to evolving threat vectors distinct from traditional ethno-nationalist insurgencies.
SATP’s fatalities database recorded five insurgency-related deaths in Assam in 2025, comprising four militants and one civilian. This figure was identical to that recorded in 2024, when four persons – three militants and one civilian – were killed. These numbers marked a dramatic decline from the period between 2000 and 2014, when annual fatalities frequently reached triple digits, peaking at 565 in 2001. Fatalities declined to double digits between 2015 and 2018 and fell into single digits thereafter, with the notable exception of 2021, when 29 deaths were recorded. The sustained reduction in fatalities underscored the effectiveness of long-term counter-insurgency operations, though isolated incidents continued to pose security challenges. Some of the notable violent incidents in 2025 included:
April 29, 2025: At least three suspected cadres of NSCN-IM were killed in an exchange of fire with
security forces (SFs), between N. Khubing village and Herekilo village, within the jurisdiction of the Haflong Police Station in the Dima Hasao District of Assam.
August 30, 2025: A prominent leader of the Thadou community in Assam, identified as Nehkam Jomhao (59), who had recently taken part in a peace dialogue in ethnic violence-hit Manipur, was killed by suspected militants belonging to Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) after being abducted from his home at Chonghang Veng in the Manja area of Karbi Anglong District, Assam.
October 16, 2025: Three Indian Army personnel were injured when ULFA-I cadres attacked an Indian Army camp with grenades and gunfire in Kakopathar in the Tiinsukia District of Assam.
October 24, 2025: SFs killed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leader Ipil Murmu, the suspected mastermind behind the October 22 improvised explosive device (IED) blast on a railway track between Kokrajhar and Salakati stations in Assam. Murmu, a Jharkhand-based Maoist, had been operating covertly in Assam. The blast had damaged the track and disrupted train services.Judicial action against terrorist networks continued during the year.
On December 31, 2025, a Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Guwahati sentenced Mohammad Kamruj Zaman alias Kamaruddin to life imprisonment for raising a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) module in Assam in 2017-18. Zaman was convicted under multiple provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for recruiting individuals and facilitating terrorist activities. The Court imposed concurrent life sentences along with fines, while noting that three co-accused had earlier pleaded guilty and another had died during trial. The verdict reinforced the role of sustained legal processes in dismantling long-standing extremist networks.
The State also intensified its campaign against narcotics trafficking, a key enabler of organised crime and militant financing. Significantly, on January 1, 2026, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that narcotics valued at approximately INR 29.19 billion had been seized in Assam over the past five years. Seizures between 2021 and 2025 alone exceeded INR 29 billion, accompanied by more than 23,000 arrests in drug-related cases. In 2025, drugs worth INR 4.19 billion had been seized, compared to INR 6.59 billion in 2024 and INR 7.23 billion in 2023. A total of 20,265 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act from 2020-25, with 4,453 arrests. Sarma claimed that the sustained crackdown had significantly weakened narcotics networks and reduced drugrelated crime along Assam’s international borders.
Beyond militancy, Assam witnessed serious civil unrest linked to land and ethnic grievances. On December 23, 2025, violence erupted in the Kheroni area of West Karbi Anglong District during clashes between two groups over eviction demands from tribal belt lands. The violence resulted in two deaths and injuries to at least 45 persons, including 38 police personnel. Arson attacks targeted shops owned by non-tribal residents, including Bihari, Nepali, Bengali and other communities, while SFs resorted to lathi-charge and tear gas to disperse violent mobs. In response, the State imposed prohibitory orders and suspended internet services to prevent the spread of misinformation.
A high-level tripartite meeting on December 26, involving the State Government, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), and Karbi civil society groups, failed to resolve the core dispute over alleged encroachment of grazing reserve lands. Despite announcements of legal and administrative measures, protest leaders warned of intensified agitation, reflecting the enduring sensitivity of land rights and identity issues in Assam’s hill districts.
Policy and peace process initiatives continued alongside security measures. On September 27, 2025, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) for six months in Tinsukia, Charaideo, and Sivasagar Districts from October 1, 2025, citing sporadic militant activity. Earlier, on November 1, 2025, the Assam Government constituted a core committee to liaise with the Union Government for the implementation of the peace accord signed with the pro-talk faction of ULFA (ULFA-PTF), which envisaged a financial package of INR 30 billion over five years, though verification challenges persisted.
On June 21, 2025, 10 cadres of the newly floated Dimasa Halan Dui-United surrendered before the Assam Police in Karbi Anglong District. Security Forces recovered arms and ammunition during the surrender, preventing the revival of a separatist movement in the hill districts. Further highlighting the transnational dimension of the security challenge, on December 19, 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) disclosed that 14 operatives of the Bangladesh-based ABT, had been arrested in Assam since December 2024. The arrests were effected by the Assam Police in coordination with central and other security agencies amid heightened counter-terrorism measures along the India-Bangladesh border. The MEA noted that the intensified vigilance followed a deterioration in Bangladesh’s internal security environment. Officials further revealed that several illegal Bangladeshi nationals were detained during these operations and that 12,300 kilograms of narcotics were seized, underscoring the nexus between cross-border extremism, illegal migration, and organised smuggling. The MEA acknowledged that the riverine terrain and porous borders continue to complicate enforcement, prompting the deployment of enhanced border management mechanisms, including fencing, drones, sensors, and satellite-based surveillance across the Northeast.
On December 26, 2025, ULFA-I announced an organisational overhaul, dissolving its three councils and constituting a new 24-member Central Committee with co-founder Paresh Baruah appointed as its ‘president’. The decision was taken unanimously after reviewing the “present circumstances.” Senior leaders using the aliases Michael Asom and Maitri Asom were appointed ‘vice-president’ and ‘general secretary’ (GS), respectively, and the body includes four women cadres. ULFA-I did not specify reasons for dismantling its council structure, created in September 2021 after suspending its constitutional framework. The move has revived speculation over possible talks with the Government of India (GoI), though ULFA-I continues to insist on Assam’s sovereignty as a precondition, rejected by both the State
and Central Governments.
However, insights into ULFA-I’s declining cohesion emerged following the surrender of senior leader Arunodoi Dohotia on December 10, 2025. Dohotia revealed that Paresh Baruah, was based in China and had not visited ULFA-I camps in Myanmar for more than a decade. According to Dohotia, declining morale, drone strikes, and the erosion of ideological training have weakened the outfit, even as logistical constraints continue to trap cadres in Myanmar.These trends were reinforced by disclosures on January 6, 2025, when Harmeet Singh, Director General of Police (DGP) of Assam stated that the STF had apprehended 21 terrorists since March 2023,
including 16 linked to Islamic extremist groups, alongside seizures of arms, ammunition and IED-related materials.
Overall, Assam remained considerably more stable in 2025 than during its peak insurgency years, with low fatality levels and shrinking militant capacities. However, the persistence of transnational Islamist networks, residual insurgent activity, narcotics trafficking, and episodic ethnic unrest indicate that security gains remain fragile. Sustained intelligence-led operations, strengthened border management, and political resolution of long-standing socio-ethnic grievances will remain critical to consolidating peace in the State.
Author Afsara Shaheen is Senior Fellow at Institute for Conflict Management.
(The views expressed in the above piece are personal and of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Bharat Fact views.)
