TURA: Police commandos in Garo Hills were bombarded by rocket propelled grenade (RPG) explosions when they attacked a hideout of the banned GNLA in remote Nanalbibra region of south Garo Hills on Tuesday evening.
There were no casualty.
The encounter took place after police teams launched a search operation to nab a large group of GNLA militants who had been collecting extortion money from coal trucks and quarries in Gare Nawak area of Nangalbibra region in South Garo Hills district.
Militants from the GNLA had descended on Gare Nawak region, 9 kms from Dobu in Nangalbibra, since Monday night and were said to be collecting huge sums from owners of coal quarries and coal trucks engaged in dumping the mineral.
Police commandos who were dispatched early Tuesday morning into the area had been scouting the region for most part of the day when they suddenly came across a very large group of armed GNLA ultras numbering over thirty inside a jungle hideout at around four O’clock in the afternoon.
The response from the militants side on seeing the police teams was overwhelming. The ultras opened up with a hail of automatic fire and fired several RPGs into the police side which exploded close by sending shrapnel all around.
“The exchange of fire was more than thirty minutes and the GNLA even used RPGs against our boys but we did not suffer any casualties,” revealed district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak.
The militants even taunted the police personnel to come forward to meet their maker. The last time GNLA militants attacked security forces in an overwhelming show of firepower was in January 2012 at Mandalgre village, near Williamnagar, when RPGs were fired by the ultras on the invading forces to halt their advance. The GNLA was at that point of time sheltering a team of ULFA leaders for safe passage into Assam.
In that attack an innocent daily wager Washington Marak was reportedly shot dead by the police team and passed off as a militant leading to public outcry. A magisterial probve was ordered into the killing of the labourer.
On Tuesday, the police chief revealed that two groups of GNLA cadres, one from finance secretary Rakkam Sangma and the other from West Khasi Hills area commander and action group chief Kennedy T Sangma alias Hebil, had joined hands in the Gare Nawak operation to extort money from the coal trade and attack security force personnel.
Kennedy alias Hebil was a senior GNLA cadre who escaped from the Tura district jail on the night of August 17th, last year, by scaling the prison walls using bed sheets as a rope.
Following the encounter at Gare Nawak the militants are said to have split into two groups with one moving into West Khasi Hills district and the other into East Garo Hills.
“A high alert has been sounded on the bordering districts and teams have been rushed to the sensitive sites,” informed Davis Nestell Marak.
The location of the coal quarries at Gare Nawak is said to have an advantage for militants since it is strategically located on the tri-junction between South and East Garo Hills districts and West Khasi Hills district. The militants are able to cross over into the safety of a neighbouring district whenever police launch operations in the border belt.