Kidnapped IB official remains untraced

Unknown group claims responsibility
TURA: The whereabouts of the Central government official Bikash Kr Singh, also known as Vikash, remains unknown even after six long days since he was taken away at gunpoint by the members of Garo militant group ASAK while travelling in a public vehicle from Rongara to Baghmara in South Garo Hills on Thursday last.
Despite intensive combing operations into the dense forests of South Garo Hills and the sealing of the international border with Bangladesh by BSF personnel no headway has been made into the daring incident in which two armed men waylaid the tata sumo vehicle at Panda reserve forest and kidnapped Singh and a cloth merchant identified as Kamal Saha.
There have been reports about the official being killed by the militants, something police have denied so far.
Our reporter adds: Meanwhile, a hitherto unknown group calling itself the Bangladesh Tiger Force has claimed in an email to killing the officer and the cloth merchant.
A man calling himself Dallim Islam, commander in chief of Bangladesh Tiger Force claimed that the officer and the cloth merchant were executed in revenge for atrocities against Bangla nationals in the border region.
He even went on to mention that GNLA and ASAK were not involved in the incident.
Security forces strongly believe that the released email is a fictitious one created by ASAK leader Reding T Sangma to escape the police manhunt against him and his group for (the kidnapping of the Central government official.
The group has reportedly been making every attempt at claiming innocence to ward off an impending all out operation against them by both the central and state security agencies.
Despite the repeated denials by the ASAK outfit, police are building up fool-proof evidence about the group’s involvement in the kidnap of IB official Singh.
The Bangladesh Tiger Force is something never heard of in the Garo Hills-Bangladesh border belt between Rongara all the way to Dalu-Purakhasia-Mahendraganj sector.
Since the local population in Bangladesh residing close to the Rongara-Sibbari-Gasuapara-Barengapara-Purakhasia-Gopinathkilla are primarily made up of Garos, Hajongs and Koch, Islamic extremists or fundamentalists have never been seen or heard in the region, let alone something called the Bangladesh Tiger Force.