TURA: Villagers living in remote areas of South Garo Hills are facing GNLA brutality as the rebels are targeting random men for allegedly collaborating with police and 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 given a merciless beating.
The militants accused Arban D Shira and Walseng Marak of being police informers and despite their denials were assaulted with rifle butts and logs to unconsciousness.
The fear instilled in them by the militants was so extreme that villagers did not alert police nor took the 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 for more than four hours on foot, our team reached the village and found the injured men,” said 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 critical, said police.
Police believe that the GNLA targeted the villagers because of an incident that occurred two months ago when their leader Sohan D Shira was taking refuge in the area.
Police commandos had raided his hideout in the area and Sohan had a narrow escape. He had warned that he would come back for revenge.
The assault comes around the same time the GNLA men took away a 53-year-old villager from Dambuk Aga village and executed him.
