TURA: A senior district magistrate of South Garo Hills escaped unhurt when unidentified militants opened fire on his vehicle after he refused to heed their signal to stop near Baghmara on Monday morning. The Project Director of DRDA and additional district magistrate Asish M Sangma was on his way from Tura to Baghmara to attend to his official work when the incident took place. At around 10:30 AM as his government-allotted Bolero vehicle was crossing Rongdotchi area, 10 kms from Baghmara, two men brandishing pistols and dressed in camouflage uniforms suddenly emerged near the side of the road and signaled his driver to stop the vehicle.
On seeing the armed men the driver floored the accelerator and sped past them in a bid to escape. The militants then opened fire from their handguns and one bullet struck the lower back portion of the vehicle without inflicting any major damage to it.
The officer and his driver traveled on to Baghmara and alerted the authorities of the incident.
Interestingly, the officer did not take along any personnel security guards from the police department even though all government officers working in militant affected areas of Garo Hills have long been advised to do so to prevent attacks and kidnappings. This is the second instance of a government official being targeted by armed militants while travelling towards Baghmara through the main state highway in less than two months. On the night of January 17th, a group of Garo militants opened blank fire and tried to halt the vehicle of the South Garo Hills Deputy commissioner, C P Gothmare, between Adugre and Jaksongram village, 15 kms from Baghmara. The militants also fired at another vehicle damaging its windshield and manhandled a government official from the education department when he stepped out of his car to inquire about the traffic jam on the highway. The militants were extorting money from coal trucks when the incident took place.
