TURA: Two GNLA militants were killed in an early morning offensive in the forests on the border of West Khasi Hills and East Garo Hills on Friday morning.
Meghalaya police commandos, comprising SWAT, SF-10 and local units, raided a GNLA hideout in a forested area between Agitchak and Jogisil villages of Shallang in West Khasi Hills at the break of dawn.
Police sources said they got information about the movement of a GNLA group led by area commander Nit who was extorting money from coal mine owners and Mahari gate operators.
The militants reportedly put up a strong resistance engaging the commandos in a gun battle that raged for close to half an hour.
The bodies of the militants who were killed in the firing were later retrieved by the police team. They are yet to be identified.
A Chinese assault rifle and a single barrel shot gun were recovered from the encounter site.
Four other militants who reportedly sustained bullet injuries were taken away by GNLA cadres who were taking shelter in another makeshift camp nearby, the police said.
The presence of elusive GNLA chief Sohan D Shira in the second camp has not been ruled out given the fire power and resistance put up by the militants during the raid.
Reinforcements were rushed in from Nongstoin in West Khasi Hills and Nangalbibra in South Garo Hills and Williamnagar in East Garo Hills to try and cut off the retreating ultras.
Police chiefs of both districts, G D Kharwanlang from Nongstoin and Vivekanand Singh from Williamnagar, are currently camping in Shallang to supervise the ongoing operations.
When contacted, Director General of Police S.B Singh said it was an outstanding effort of Meghalaya police and SF-10 commandos. He reiterated that militants will be flushed out from the State.
The GNLA group led by Nit was on police radar for several months with inputs flowing in about their extortion drive in the coal belt. The group had managed to escape several police operations in the recent past.
Consistent police operations that resulted in mass surrenders of cadres and area commanders of GNLA had pushed Sohan and deputy commander-in-chief of the dreaded ULFA (Independent) outfit Drishti Rajkhowa alias Manoj Rabha into the remote areas of South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills.
The combined GNLA-ULFA (I) group had an encounter with West Khasi Hills police on February 20 this year at a place called Riangdim in Shallang during which a Garo militant from Bangladesh was shot dead. He was a bodyguard of Drishti Rajkhowa.
Senior police officers reveal that the banned GNLA have been making several attempts to recruit new cadres to fill in their ranks due to the reverses it suffered in 2016 and early 2017.
Top police officials in the State say intelligence inputs about GNLA indicate that the group is not only recruiting from the Garo Hills districts of the western range but also from across the international border in Bangladesh.
