A report from the Bangladesh government to the Union home ministry over the recent spike in infiltration+ of terrorists to India has rung alarm bells in the security establishment.

According to the report, 2016 witnessed an over-three-fold increase+ over 2015 in infiltration by Harkat-ul-Jihadi al-Islami (HuJI) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) extremists into the border states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. The development assumes significance as the NIA has found overseas terror links and the direct role of JMB in the October 2014 Burdwan blast at Khagragarh in which two suspected terrorists were killed.

The report said approximately 2,010 HuJI and JMB operatives had entered the three states. While nearly 720 men made a safe passage through the Bengal border, the remaining 1,290 are suspected to have entered through Assam and Tripura. Bengal government officials are sceptical about the report, but even if just a close estimate, the number is disturbing as intelligence reports pegged the number of infiltrators in 2014 and 2015 at 800 and 659, respectively.

"We are trying to gather information to confirm the veracity of the report," a senior Bengal home department official said. However, Assam police is concerned about the development.