Shillong, Nov 1 (IANS) Security forces in Meghalaya launched search operations Tuesday to nab Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels who gunned down five people, including four police personnel, in an ambush Monday evening, police said.
A group of 10 heavily armed militants hiding on a hilltop attacked a highway patrol police team at Nengpatchi area of East Garo Hills district, killing the policemen and a civilian and injuring two police personnel.
Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and Meghalaya’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos have been pressed into service to track down the rebels who are suspected to be holed up in and around Nengpatchi area.
Though no militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the state’s Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Rajiv Mehta said: ‘The GNLA is behind this cowardly attack.’
‘They (GNLA) have been under tremendous pressure from us. Today may be their day, but they should remember that we are not far from them,’ he said.
Mehta, who reviewed the overall law and order situation in the Garo Hills after the incident, added: ‘We have got vital leads and the hunt is on to arrest them.’
Deputy Inspector of General of Police (western range) G.H.P. Raju said the GNLA central area commander Rakkam Marak and former Meghalaya police constable Savio Ch Marak, who is now area commander of GNLA in West Khasi Hills district, led the GNLA cadres in the Monday evening hit-and-run operation.
The GNLA, one of the five Garo rebel groups, is fighting for a separate Garoland in the three impoverished districts of Garo Hills. It is headed by police officer-turned-outlaw Champion R. Sangma.
The outfit is believed to have links with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
