The Army and Assam Rifles launched a series of operations against Northeast terrorist groups located in Myanmar on the night of October 21 and 22, 2025. Contact established with terrorists at 6th Mile Camp village area in Namsai district of Arunachal Pradesh was followed by exchanges of fire between the two sides, which lasted for several hours. Also part of this operation was a well-coordinated cross-border drone strike launched against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland’s Khaplang Yung Aung group (NSCN-(K-YA)) camps inside Myanmar on the evening of October 19, targeting its top leadership.
The drones specifically hit the camp of self-styled Major General Peyong Konyak, a senior NSCN (K-YA) commander believed to be the key mastermind behind the recent attack on an Assam Rifles Company Operating Base (COB) in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Five terrorists, including three of Peyong’s personal bodyguards, were killed in the attack.
The drone strike was an added response to the military action on the ground after a series of assaults by terrorists in the region. On October 16, suspected NSCN (K-YA) terrorists had attacked an Assam Rifles COB at Hedman, along the Indo-Myanmar border in Changlang. In a separate incident, ULFA (I) cadres launched an attack on an Army base at Koomsang under Kakopathar police station in Assam’s Tinsukia district, injuring three Army personnel.
The ULFA (I) terrorists were armed with under-barrel grenade launchers and automatic rifles during the assault. On the next day, October 17, ULFA (I) terrorists attempted a similar strike on the Kakopathar Camp in Tinsukia district in eastern Assam. Alert troops retaliated decisively, inflicting casualties on the terrorist groups and apprehending an overground worker (OGW) involved in the plot.
In response, Assam Rifles intensified its operations, activating an extensive counter-insurgency grid supported by modern surveillance assets, drones, and intelligence-based high-tech teams. The enhanced grid culminated in a successful ambush on October 21 at 6th Mile Camp and Lekang Khampti areas in Namsai district in South Arunachal Pradesh, resulting in the neutralisation of one ULFA (I) cadre and the recovery of warlike stores.
The search conducted in the areas resulted in the recovery of one dead body of a terrorist identified as Iwon Axom, a self-styled Sergeant Major of ULFA (I). One rifle, one rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) round, and three rucksacks were recovered along with the body of the militant from the spot. These rapid and precise actions not only foiled the nefarious designs of the terrorists but also re-established the moral ascendancy of the security forces across the region.
With their networks disrupted and leadership under pressure, the terrorist groups were reported to be on the run.How come ULFA (I) and NSCN (K), lying low in Myanmar for a long time, attacked the Army and Assam Rifles barely a couple of months after Operation Sindoor?
In view of Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir’s recent threat conveyed after the extensive destruction caused by Indian Armed Forces on many terrorist and strategic assets in Pakistan within just 88 hours of Operation Sindoor in May 2025, that his next attack on Indian forces would be from the East, these attacks are most likely part of such a plan.
With Munir having very limited manpower after the multiple bashings that the Pakistan Army has taken owing to the Afghan Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pashtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, armed Balochis from Balochistan, and then Operation Sindoor, the best way out at this time is to have the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) revive its contacts with India’s Northeast terrorist groups and use them again to attack Indian security forces.
It may be recalled that the ISI has had a lot of contact with Northeast terrorist groups since the early 1990s when the ISI, present in great numbers in Bangladesh under BNP rule, made its maiden entry into India’s Northeast, thanks to the ULFA, which escaped to Bangladesh after President’s Rule was imposed in Assam and the Indian Army was called out to deal with ULFA. As soon as Operation Bajrang was launched by the Army in Assam, ULFA, in large numbers, escaped to Bangladesh. This was at a time when Begum Khaleda Zia, heading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was in power, and large numbers of ISI were posted in Bangladesh. Very soon after ULFA escaped to Bangladesh, it came totally under the ISI’s charge and not only facilitated the entry of ISI operatives into India’s Northeast region but also introduced them to the NSCN-Isak-Muivah (IM), Manipur’s Meitei groups — PLA, UNLF, and some others — as well as other insurgent groups around.
Thereafter began much interaction in which the ISI motivated and armed these groups to enhance their anti-India activities. In fact, it was at this stage that the Northeast groups progressed from being classic insurgents to terrorists. This author’s book Assam: Terrorism and the Demographic Challenge (2009, Centre for Land Warfare Studies and Knowledge World) elaborates on whatever has
been mentioned in this article and more related issues.
Since May 2025, the ISI has been back in Bangladesh along with some American operatives of the US’s well-known agency, with fresh aims and plans of stoking mayhem in the Eastern and Northeastern parts of India, and, as per some indications, have most likely been involved in whatever happened in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India’s Ladakh.
On October 26, 2025, The Sunday Guardian and some other agencies reported the “quiet death” of Terrence Arvelle “TJ” Jackson, a 50-year-old American national and senior US Army officer, inside a Dhaka hotel on August 31, 2025. “Jackson’s combination of rank, regional experience, and technical expertise — coupled with the absence of an autopsy and the speed of diplomatic repatriation — has deepened speculation over what he was doing in Dhaka” is a relevant comment.
While authorities in both India and Myanmar have not issued formal statements, security in all the states and along the border areas must be effectively tightened.
The author is a strategic affairs analyst and former spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Army