TURA: Meghalaya police commandos have reportedly shot dead a GNLA militant during a raid on Sohan D Shira’s new camp deep in the forests of Durama Hills in East Garo Hills District early Friday morning.
Police launched the attack after spotting the camp near Nengsang Adugre in the Durama Hills shortly after 6 AM. The camp is said to have come up not far from the previous site where the GNLA general headquarters was set up and had been destroyed by police in a massive operation on June 5 this year.
The commandos are said to have gunned down one militant while the others escaped after engaging the forces in a brief gun battle on Friday morning.
“Our teams are still at the site and communication is not accessible but we have been informed that one militant was killed and arms and ammunition recovered. Sohan was at the camp but escaped,” said district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak.
It is learnt that the militant who was killed was the sentry on guard duty when the attack took place.
“The new camp of Sohan was set up about 2 km from the previous site which was destroyed by our police teams. It is in a very interior area and around 25 km from Williamnagar,” said the police chief. The police teams reportedly had to move on foot for days to reach the site after crossing the mighty Simsang river which is in spate following the monsoon rains.
Early reports indicate that the new camp was vastly spread out with shelters for cadres at different places to avoid police bombardment.
In the June 5 operation, police and CRPF launched an aerial bombardment using mortar fire to flatten the GNLA camp reducing it to rubble as the militant fled to escape the shelling.