Tura: A former GNLA militant, who left the outfit to form his own group, has been shot dead in an encounter with a joint team of North Garo Hills police and the army on Thursday .
Police with support from the army unit based at Damra, Assam, launched a late ) night operation following intelligence reports about presence of armed men in the vicinity of Bangsi Minol village. When security forces descended on the village at around 5:35 am they were welcomed with gunfire from a house where the militants had been holed up. In the encounter the leader of the gang identified as Teseng Sangma was shot dead while another cadre identified as Gobin Sangma managed to escape.
An automatic Insas rifle along with magazine holding eight live rounds of ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.
The deceased who hailed from the same village had joined the GNLA in 2012 and was known as Werang in the outfit. He along with Gobin deserted the outfit a few months back to start their own organization to extort money. The group is believed to have around eight members.