Top Adivasi militant leader, 4 others arrested in Assam

Guwahati: The self-styled commander-in-chief of outlawed All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), Pipar Dang along with four other members of the outfit were arrested by Assam police during an operation carried out at Dayalpur forest area near Assam –Nagaland boundary on Sunday.
Police informed that the operation was carried in specific information to rescue two persons, Mono Karmakar and Amit Dutta, who were abducted by AANLA militants on March 27 last.
The four other arrested AANLA militants were identified as Isaque Bag, Fabinos Surin, Sangphai Lothanaga and a woman cadre Lily Kikone. Police recovered one pistol and ammunition from the militants.
The abducted persons were rescued safe by the police during the operation.
The AANLA is a militants group active in parts of Assam that have waged armed struggle to ‘safeguard the tribal culture of the tea plantation workers in Assam who were brought to Assam by the colonial British tea planters from the rest of the country to engage them as labourers in tea plantations.
The AANLA which was formed in 2006 with the help from two bigger militants groups, the ULFA and the NSCN-IM, is most active in Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Kokrajhar districts of Assam and parts of Nagaland.
The ULFA and the NSCN-IM played a significant role in arming and training the cadres of the AANLA. The AANLA which often carries of extortion in tea belts of Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam, share its extorted money with the ULFA while it maintains strategic ties with the NSCN-IM.