From Our Correspondent
TURA: The dreaded militant chief of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) Sohan D Shirahas once again escaped from the clutches of police by engaging them in a major gun battle for close to half an hour on Tuesday afternoon near Samanda village, 19 kms from Williamnagar, district headquarters of East Garo Hills.
The hard to pin down commander-in-chief of the GNLA was closeted in a remote house atop a hill at Bansam Bibragre in Samanda village across the river Simsang, when the encounter took place between the group and a large contingent of CRPF personnel.
Based on intelligence reports about movement of armed men in Samanda area a CRPF team was deployed for search operation. While heading towards the hill top in which stood a bamboo hut they were fired upon by GNLA militants on sentry duty leading to a heavy exchange of fire that lasted for more than fifteen minutes with neither side sustaining any casualty.
After keeping the advancing troops at bay the militants took the opportunity to escape from the rear end of the hill that is surrounded by thick forest cover.
The firing which broke out at noon sent a fear psychosis as villagers fled from their homes.
According to police there were twelve militants holed up inside the house along with their army chief Sohan Shira.
“They were consuming the meat of a dog which they had killed. Our team recovered more than 10 kgs of uncooked meat from the fire place along with 12 dining plates,” said Williamnagar police. Police also recovered a very large quantity of spent ammunition shells of AK rifles which were fired on security forces by the militants. Meanwhile, the owner of the house where the militants took shelter, Starson Sangma is absconding and could not be traced till late evening. He is suspected to have fled during the gun battle.
