TURA: The militant commander Kennedy T Sangma alias Hebel who was appointed as ‘action’ commander of the ‘Eagle Hunters’ unit by GNLA chief Sohan D Shira was the mastermind behind two gruesome attacks on police in which a total of nine personnel lost their lives in the last two and a half years.
The action commander, hailing from Adugre village of Williamnagar, became infamous after a daring prison break from Tura district jail on the night of August 18, 2013 when he used a bed sheet tied to a brick to scale the prison walls and escape. Accused of various crimes including kidnapping and murder, the militant had been transferred to Tura only three months back when he broke out.
He was rewarded by the GNLA and promoted to area commander of Chokpot region in South Garo Hills.
On the morning hours of November 5, 2013, Hebel led a daring attack on a police vehicle that left Baghmara town in South Garo Hills to fetch a under trial prisoner from Tura.
As the vehicle was crossing Banjakona village of Kapasipara near Gasuapara, GNLA militants lobbed a grenade and opened indiscriminate firing killing all five police occupants of the vehicle. They also looted three AK rifles and a carbine machine gun from the slain police personnel.
Another ambush orchestrated by the action commander against police was at Panda reserve forest on the morning of March 10 this year.
On that fateful Tuesday morning, over three dozen heavily armed GNLA men ambushed a police team travelling on a police gypsy that was coming from remote Rongara police station to district headquarters Baghmara. In that ambush, four police personnel – a sub-inspector along with two armed constables and the driver – were killed. Only two police constables seated at the back end of the vehicle managed to escape the attack by jumping out and fleeing into the nearby forests.
The militants took away two INSAS rifles, an AK rifle and a 9 mm pistol from the slain policemen.
GNLA chief Sohan D Shira had formed the ‘Eagle Hunters’ unit and packed it with some of his most experienced and hardcore members which was headed by Hebel. The agenda of the armed unit was primarily to target police personnel in different parts of Garo Hills and it also included ULFA militants in its fold.
The death of the action commander at the hands of the police whom he was trained to kill is expected to severely dent the firepower and influence of the GNLA.
