7 tribal militants killed in encounter with Army in Karimganj

Silchar, August 19, 2011 Seven tribal militants were gunned down in an encounter with Army personnel in the remote Lalgenai hamlet under Ratabari block in Assam’s Karimganj district this morning. A senior police officer in Karimganj said Anipur-based Army personnel belonging to 33 Mountain Regiment launched an operation against Bru and Tipra rebels in this remote part of Karimganj district, nearly 150 km from here, bordering Mizoram and Tripura. At about 8.30 am the rebels started firing at the security personnel. When the Army retaliated seven militants were killed on the spot. One Army personnel has been wounded in the encounter and flown to a Kolkata hospital by a helicopter for treatment. He has been identified as Naik Shankar Tarafdar. Seven sophisticated rifles and one hand grenade belonging to the rebels have been recovered from the place of encounter. Sources said the Army has pressed a helicopter into service for conducting further search in the jungle for more bodies. A contingent of police and the Central Resserve Police Force (CRPF), led by Superintendent of Police (Karimganj) Diganta Bora has rushed to the spot. The policemen were yet to come back to Karimganj with the bodies of the rebels. They will reach late in the night because of the distance involved and the inhospitable terrain, which does not have any motorable road, the sources said. A police official said some days back a group of about 30 militants had entered the area from neghbouring Mizoram and Tripura. They were engaged in kidnapping and extortion activities. Sources said Bru Liberation Army (BLA) and United Democratic Liberation Army (UDLA) militant outfits were active in the area.