TURA: A hardcore militant of the banned GNLA outfit has been shot dead in an encounter after police raided their jungle hideout near Patalgre village of East Garo Hills on Sunday morning.
SWAT commandos of Meghalaya police had launched an operation in the area following intelligence reports about the presence of a large number of militants in the forests near Patalgre village, which is approximately 15 km from Williamnagar and lies across the Simsang river.
At around 9:15 am while scouting the dense forests a GNLA militant on sentry duty spotted the approaching police commandos and opened fire leading to a gun battle.
During the long drawn battle a senior militant identified as Katrak was shot dead and an AK rifle recovered. The rest of the militants fled into the forests.
“We don’t know the real name of the militant killed except for the name given by the GNLA. But we believe the deceased militant was a hardcore member of the group since only senior members are handed out AK rifles by Sohan Shira,” said district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak, adding that the camp housed over twenty militants.
The encounter did not end at the camp site as the fleeing militants regrouped and laid an ambush for the retreating police commandos near Dorengkigre village.
“Our teams were bringing back the body of the militant when we spotted around 10 militants near Dorengkigre village but we did not fire due to presence of villagers. But the militants took a short cut through the jungle road and ambushed us outside the village,” the SP said.
The militants reportedly opened fire from their jungle positions forcing police to launch a counter offensive which compelled them to abandon their attack and leave the area. There were no casualties on either side, it was reported.
