Guwahati, June 1 (IANS) Security forces in Assam Tuesday gunned two tribal separatists and seized a large haul of weapons and explosives.
A police spokesperson said the gunfight between a joint team of police and soldiers and a three-member group of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) took place in village Oudangbazar in Kokrajhar district, about 230 km west of here.
‘Based on specific intelligence about the presence of a three-member group of militants, security forces went to the area. Soon there was a gun battle that lasted for close to an hour,’ a senior police official said.
Two NDFB rebels were gunned down while another managed to escape taking cover of the early morning darkness into the thick undergrowth near the encounter site.
A huge cache of weapons, including rifles, pistols, grenades and other explosives, was recovered from the dead militants.
‘The group entered the area for creating violence or maybe carrying out extortions,’ the official said.
The NDFB is fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in western Assam.
More than 50 NDFB rebels have been killed in separate encounters in stepped up security offensives in Assam in the past six months.
