Tura jail escapee led GNLA ambush party
TURA: Garo Hills Police have identified the two main masterminds of the attack on a police party at Kolapara in South Garo Hills as the GNLA’s new ‘action’ commander and the Chokpot area commander.
The new action commander is none other than Kennedy T Sangma alias Hebil who had made a daring escape from the Tura Jail on the night of August 17 by using bed sheets to scale the prison walls.
Both Hebil and the new GNLA area commander of Chokpot identified as one Jangjang led the ambush party on Tuesday morning in which five police personnel were killed in indiscriminate firing while on their way from Baghmara to Tura to bring back an under-trial prisoner (UTP) for court hearings.
“Both Hebil and Jangjang were present at the encounter site after they were dispatched from the GNLA camps with a large force of around 25-30 armed cadres,” said highly placed police sources from Garo Hills.
Hebil had been arrested from Baghmara during the early part of this year. He is wanted in several criminal cases including the murder of civilians, extortion and attack on security forces.
He was booked under the stringent Meghalaya Prevention of Disruptive Activities (MPDA) Act and had been transferred to Tura Jail in May. Following his daring escape, GNLA commander-in-chief Sohan D Shira had rewarded him with the rank of ‘action’ commander.
Following successive police raids on Sohan’s house that yielded large sums of money, weapons and other equipment meant for subversive activities, the militant chief had directed his new ‘action’ commander to target police personnel and establishments.
“Hebil was dispatched after armed training with a large force to create mayhem by targeting police and other security forces,” informed a police source from Garo Hills.
Attack planned from three sides; villagers chased away
The GNLA militants who ambushed the police vehicle with five occupants had reportedly planned the operation to the last detail.
Police teams who inspected the encounter site found that three different teams of militants had positioned themselves from the front, side and top of the road leading towards Baghmara. The militants are believed to have waited several hours for their target as packets of puffed and flat beaten rice were recovered from the spot where the ultras had been holed up.
When the firing initially began villagers who were working in their paddy fields nearby reportedly rushed to the spot to investigate, but were chased away by the militants. The site of the encounter is only a few hundred meters from Kolapara village and the paddy fields spread close to the main road where the encounter took place.