Tura: Timber smugglers have assaulted a team of forest guards who disrupted their operation leading to injury on one personnel.
A group of timber smugglers were felling trees and loading the timber inside Rongrenggre reserve forest of Williamnagar when forest guards arrived on the scene to challenge them.
The criminals attacked the unarmed forest team with stones and sticks leading to one guard, Coburn Manly K Marak, sustaining injury.
He has since been taken for advance medical treatment outside of Garo Hills.
East Garo Hills once had the largest forest cover in the state but due to rampant illegal timber smuggling the green cover is now to its bare minimum.