M A I N   N E W S

13 mowed down in Tripura

Agartala, March 3
After a brief lull, the nlft guns boomed again mowing down at least 13 persons, including 11 CRPF jawans, at Bampur under Birganj police station in South Tripura today.

The police here said when the jawans of 4th Battalion CRPF were patrolling the extremist-dominated area in five vehicles, the heavily armed National Liberation Front of Tripura militants pumped a volley of bullets from two sides of hilltop, killing all 13 on the spot. The deceased included two civilian drivers of the CRPF vehicles.

The militants decamped with 10 sophisticated weapons, including four self-loading rifles, one light machinegun, five carbines besides a huge cache of ammunition and grenades from the slain personnel.

The incident occurred at about 8.30 a.m. this morning immediately after the para-military personnel launched the patrolling in the militant-dominated areas. This was the first major militant attack on the security forces during the past two years in the state, where altogether 16 security personnel fell prey to the tribal guerrillas during the last year in six incidents.

Acting Director General of Police K. Saleem Ali, senior CRPF and Assam Rifles officials along with additional paramilitary forces had rushed to the spot, 90 km from here, to launch a massive combing operation to nab the militants.

Sources said two CRPF jawans were also critically injured in the attack and shifted to the G.B. hospital here.

Meanwhile, security forces recovered five bodies from two separate places in South Tripura, while two persons were killed in an encounter between the NLFT and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) militants at Sidhai in West Tripura yesterday.

The bodies of the five hostages were recovered following the confessional statements of two arrested militants. The victims were kidnapped last year by the militants and had been killed in the captivity recently.

Today’s attack on the CRPF was the third militant attack on the security forces during the past one year. Earlier on March 24 last year, five bsf jawans were killed at Siddhicharra in Dhalai district, while on April 17 same year, three Tripura State Rifles jawans were gunned down by the ultras at Sonacharra in West Tripura. UNI