Agartala: At least eight groups of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) headed by self-styled rebel leaders Atharababu Halam and Karna Debbarma had tried to stage a bloody come back before April12 in some border areas, according to latest intelligence inputs.
The April 12 was the date for conducting polling to East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency which comprises some vulnerable border pockets in the state’s eastern border.
Intelligence inputs confirmed, Atharababu Halam and Karna Debbarma and their soldiers equipped with deadly weapons like Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went out of Zupui hideout in Bangladesh’s Ramgarh district to carry out attacks on security personnel inside state’s soil. And, they were last spotted moving around outside the international border on April 8.
At an unconfirmed location just behind the Indo-Bangla border in between Chawmanu to Ganganagar, the strong contingent of the NLFT divided into eight groups to launch fresh assault just ahead of the Parliamentary elections.
But their efforts went in vain due to strategic change in the security layers along the state’s eastern border beginning from Tulpuibari (Kanchanpur) to Nutun Bazar (Gomoti district).
Based on the intelligence inputs, besides deployment of BSF troops along the eastern border- Tulpuibari-Chawmanu-Ganganagar-Raishyabari-Nutun Bazar, Counter Insurgency and Anti Terrorism (CIAT) trained TSR jawans have been deployed along the border as second line of defence.
“Around five teams of CIAT trained jawans were pressed into service along the border to foil any intrusion attempt by outlawed group. The teams were on patrolling round the clock well before the elections”, said a senior police officers.
According to security analysts, Atharababu Halam and Karna Debbarma might have gone back to Zupui hideout after smelling the unprecedented presence of security personnel in strategic locations along the border.
After making the elections to East Tripura constituency trouble-free, the CIAT jawans have returned to their home- Counter Insurgency and Anti Terrorism School (CIATS) in Dhalai district April 13.
