Sohan escapes yet again
TURA: A senior cadre of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) was shot during a raid conducted by East Garo Hills late on Friday night.
The team of East Garo Hills police was deployed to raid the hideout of the outfit’s chief, Sohan D. Shira, on Friday night after they received information about the GNLA commander-in-chief’s presence at Songma Adugre village across the Simsang inside the Durama hills.
Sohan was reportedly staying in the village with a group of well-armed cadres.
Police commando teams were deployed to the village but halfway through their journey in the dense jungle in the dark they came across the rebels who were coming from the village.
The rebels, on seeing the police team, took cover and started firing and a sustained gun battle followed. “The exchange of fire was heavy and went on for quite some time,” said district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak.
After the firing stopped, the team went to the encounter site and found the body of a militant, identified as Ruga T Sangma, killed in the encounter. The cadre was from the 6th batch of the outfit’s recruits who passed out of armed training last year. He was from Dorengkigre in the Durama hills. Police also found an AK rifle, a pistol and ammunition.
“Though he passed out from the 6th batch of GNLA recruits he had been with Sohan for a long time. We are certain Sohan was part of the group that exchanged fire with our team,” said Marak.