TURA: For the first time in close to three years, police in Garo Hills faced an encounter with militants in the remote region of Rongara in South Garo Hills leading to a brief exchange of fire on Tuesday morning.
The militants are said to belong to Assam’s ULFA-Independent which had previously operated jointly with the banned GNLA outfit in Garo Hills.
According to police, information about the presence of close to a dozen armed militants taking refuge in the forests of Bolchugre in Rongara region was passed on from intelligence sources.
While combing the area SF-10 commandos came across the armed militants at around 9 am. Seeing the raiding party, a sentry of the ULFA outfit raised an alarm by opening fire leading to a brief exchange during which the ultras scaled down and fled into the forests below.
Police suspect that deputy commander of ULFA-Independent Dristi Rajkhowa who has been in and out of Garo Hills for close to ten years may have been present with the militants at the time of the encounter.
During the militancy days of the GNLA, Dristi Rajkhowa and his ULFA cadres helped GNLA chief Sohan D Shira set up a string of jungle camps where they provided armed training and weapons to the Garo outfit.