TURA: Villagers living in remote areas of South Garo Hills are facing the brunt of GNLA militants brutality as the rebels go about targeting anyone whom they suspect to be a police collaborator dragging them out for execution or assault.
Two middle-aged men from the remote village of Halwa Bilda, located between Rongara and Chitmang, were dragged out from their homes on Wednesday night by eight armed rebels and beaten up mercilessly.
The militants accused Arban D Shira and Walseng Marak of being police informers and despite their denials were assaulted with rifle butts and logs until both the men lost unconsciousness.
The fear instilled on them by the militants was so extreme that the villagers did not alert police nor took the severely injured men to a hospital.
“We came to know on Thursday that militants had targeted some villagers in the area and so we dispatched a police team. After trekking more than four long hours on foot our team reached the village and found the injured men,” informed district police chief Abraham T Sangma from Baghmara.
The two injured men had to be carried on stretchers and they were brought to Baghmara civil hospital around midnight. Both men are in a serious condition, informed police.
Police believe that the GNLA targeted the villagers because of an incident that occurred two months back when their leader Sohan D Shira was taking refuge in the area.
Police commandos had raided his hideout in the area and Sohan D Shira had narrowly escaped that encounter. He is said to have returned to seek revenge and spread fear by targeting the villagers.
The assault comes around the same time the GNLA men took away a 53 year old villager from Dambuk Aga village and executed him in cold blood.
Four rebels took away Olget R Marak of Oripur village in Dambuk Aga on Tuesday night telling his wife they needed him to show the way. Instead, the rebels riddled his body with automatic gunfire leaving his body by the roadside. They left a message accusing the deceased of being a police informer.