GNLA leaves behind powerful IED
TURA: Suspected GNLA militants made a daring attack on the official residence of the East Garo Hills Additional SP at the heart of Williamnagar town opening fire from an AK rifle and leaving behind a five kg powerful IED bomb on Thursday night.
The incident took place a little after 8:30pm when crowds were out on the streets of Williamnagar celebrating the last day of the Pingera winter festival.
The militants walked up close to the official residence of additional SP R T G Momin, near Fire brigade, and let loose over a dozen rounds of fire from an AK rifle. The outer walls of the residence sustained damage from the firing.
At the time of the incident the family of the officer, his wife and little daughter, were inside the house but managed to escape unhurt.
The officer himself was supervising law and order duty in the town when the attack took place.
After firing at the house the militants left behind a five kg IED bomb near the main gate that was to be remotely detonated on the approaching police teams.
“After opening fire the militants had planned to detonate the bomb through a remote device as soon as the police teams rushed in but our personnel spotted the device concealed in a plastic bag outside the compound. Our bomb squad is in the process of defusing the device,” said the district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak.
As many as thirteen empty rounds of AK ammunition along with three live rounds were recovered from the spot where the militants opened fire on the police officer’s quarters.
The district police chief did not ruled out the plans by the GNLA to target the venue of the winter festival.
“We had inputs about possible attacks by the militants and had beefed up security with frisking of vehicles and commuters coming in and out of the town. Every individual who wanted to get into the venue of the festival was frisked making it difficult for the militants to target the site. That could be one of the reasons for the attack on the officer’s house,” said the SP.
He did not rule out a loophole in the security apparatus which may have led to the daring attack by the militants.
Preliminary investigation by police indicated that three militants took part in the attack.
When the firing took place police personnel based nearby rushed out to investigate and three persons who are believed to have been involved were noticed running away in the distance.
The darkness of the night coupled by the winter chill may have given an advantage for the militants to commit the act by concealing the weapon and the bomb under shawls and jackets, suspect police.