TURA: In a never before seen mindless act in the history of Garo Hills and one quite reminiscent of pre-poll violence in mainland India, suspected militants from the banned GNLA outfit carried out their most audacious attack during an election campaign ambushing the convoy of NCP candidate from Williamnagar Jonathone N Sangma in a remote village across the Simsang river on Sunday evening.
The suspected militants triggered a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) that killed the young candidate and three others.
The daring attack on the campaign trail has sent shockwaves across the state.
What perhaps adds suspense to this sordid happening is the presence of a surrendered militant commander of the GNLA who was accompanying the NCP candidate and was killed in the attack.
A dreaded militant commander of the banned GNLA, Nikam Ch Momin alias Baichung who unleashed fear and mayhem during his stint as area commander of Chokpot region in South Garo Hills less than two years ago, was accompanying Jonathone in his election campaign when the attack took place.
According to police information, Jonathone had gone to Sawilgre village under Samanda block for an election campaign on Sunday afternoon.
He had dropped off his wife and elder son at Dinanggre village, en route to his election rally, to help prepare dinner for his campaign team.
He was returning from the campaign in a convoy of vehicles when militants triggered a powerful IED blast at Sawilgre, 14 km across the Simsang in Samanda around 7.30 pm.
The area is known for poor telecommunication facilities.
Williamnagar police were first informed of the incident by supporters of Jonathone shortly after word got out about the attack. Police commandos were rushed to the site but it took over four hours of cautious trekking before the first response teams could communicate back to the base from the site of the incident.
According to police sources, when the commandos arrived at the site they found four abandoned vehicles of Jonathone’s campaign tour. One of the vehicles, a Mahindra Scorpio, in which the NCP candidate was travelling, was found severely damaged possibly in an IED blast.
Four bodies, including that of Jonathone, were found at the site of the ambush while three other members of his team were rescued with injuries sustained in the blast.
Apart from Jonathone’s body, the remains of GNLA Chokpot commander Baichung Momin were also found alongside the NCP candidate inside the vehicle.
One of the deceased has been identified as Samin Hassan, Jonathone’s personal security officer.
The other deceased victim is said to be a Class 12 college student from Williamnagar who had accompanied the NCP candidate to the election campaign and boarded his ill-fated vehicle.
The bodies of all four victims were brought to Samanda health centre while the three injured victims were rushed to Williamnagar civil hospital. The trio has critical injuries and they have been rushed to GNRC Hospital in Guwahati on Sunday night.
One of the injured is the driver of the NCP candidate identified as Silman, while another is his second security guard. The third victim is a retired enforcement officer of the Transport Department.
There are many pressing queries relating to the presence of surrendered militant leaders accompanying Jonathon on his campaign trail.
Baichung, who was wanted for several murders, abductions and executions during his stint as the area commander of GNLA in Chokpot, had surrendered in December 2016 to Meghalaya police. His presence in the company of the NCP candidate on Sunday during a crucial election campaign has not ruled out the GNLA’s deliberate targeting of its former leader and the politician.
